STUDENTS SCULPT CANS OF FOOD FOR AREA RED CROSS

West Park Mall shoppers paused Monday to examine piles of canned goods formed into a rocket, bearcat and even Stonehenge.

The structures weren't just an interesting example of how high school students play with their food. The Perryville Student Council initiated the event, dubbed Can-Struction, to help the American Red Cross in Missouri. Five area high schools collected 4,000 cans for the event.

Dexter High School, with its 2,400 cans, took a trophy for the most cans collected, but Perryville High School won the best of show trophy for its replica of a NASA rocket.

Sarah Nussbaum, counselor and student council sponsor at Perryville, said she traveled to a convention in St. Louis last summer with Abby Moore, student council president. The two heard about Can-Struction there and thought it would be a good idea to bring home.

They sent invitations to every high school in Southeast Missouri, but only five chose to participate: Perryville, St. Vincent, Notre Dame, Bismarck and Dexter.

"We invited quite a few, but I think we didn't get much participation because it was the first year," Moore said. "It was hard to explain over the phone what we wanted. Now people will have had the chance to see for themselves."

The schools that participated used incentives to get students to bring cans. In Perryville, the public high school conducted a dance with St. Vincent, and the price of admission was a can of food. Schools planned pizza parties for the homerooms that collected the most cans, and some teachers let students who brought cans leave class a few minutes early.

Every can collected had to be used in the structure, and nothing but cans and cardboard were allowed in the construction. Students erected the structures at West Park Mall Sunday evening. Cape Girardeau architects Charles Herbst and Tom Holshouser judged the event Monday.

Holshouser said it would be difficult to tell if any of the five schools had budding architects involved in the project.

"I don't think this would be a good way to judge architectural skills, but getting out and soliciting the cans was a great achievement," he said.

Moore and Nussbaum plan to pass the Can-struction torch, making the can collection a yearly event and donating the proceeds to charity.