Union City, Tenn.– Winners in the 2nd annual CanStruction competition and exhibit at Discovery Park of America in Union City were announced Friday. Discovery Park of America hosted this region’s first ever CanStruction event in 2017 and this year’s participation was even better.
Area schools competed with over 10,589 cans and created ten unique structures that will be on display throughout the month of November. The structures were created in the Reelfoot Room at Discovery Park where guests can enjoy the creativeness and artistry of this unique competition throughout the month of November, and it is free with park admission.
Winners in each category were:
- Best Overall: Project Homeschool (Gibson County Homeschool 4-H Group)“The Good Samaritan Dragon”
- Structural Ingenuity: Hillcrest PLUS “What So Proudly We Give”
- Best Use of Labels: Obion County Central High School “Peas Out, Hunger!”
- Best Meal: Black Oak Elementary “Mount VeSOUPius”
- Most Creative: Project Homeschool (Gibson County Homeschool 4-H Group)“The Good Samaritan Dragon”
- Juror’s Favorite: Union City High School Art, Key and STEM Clubs “Strike Out Hunger”
The schools that participated were: Obion County Central High School, South Fulton Middle School, Union City High School Skills USA, Black Oak Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary, Union City High School STEM, Key and Art Clubs, Lake Road Elementary, Westview High School, South Fulton High School and Project Homeschool. Engineering students from UTM assisted the schools with their design concepts and plans, and were on hand to give advice during the build.
When the exhibit is dismantled, the cans will be given to three local charities: Helping Hands in Union City, Chimes for Charity in Obion County and We Care Ministries of Martin. The result is 8,500 meals being provided to needy people in this area. Local sponsors were Westan Insurance and Allen Searcy Building Contractors. “Our sponsors provided the money to purchase cans for the schools to use,” Andrew Gibson, who headed up the project for the park, explained. “We couldn’t have done this without them,” he added. According to the CanStruction rules, each school could raise money or do other activities to add additional cans to their exhibit. “The sky is the limit,” Gibson said.
Hosting CanStruction at Discovery Park was a dream of Jenny Kirkland, whose family built Discovery Park of America and continues to provide funding through its foundation. “I saw an exhibit like this in Memphis,” Jenny said. “This is just a great way for the schools to help feed the hungry in the community, while learning about design, engineering and even the artistic elements of creating a design out of cans,” she went onto explain. “I just really wanted Discovery Park of America to offer this competition to the schools in this are,” she added.
The CanStruction Exhibit will be open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. in the Reelfoot Room inside Discovery Center. “We are excited for our guests to stroll through the amazing structures that the students built,” Gibson said. “It’s free for members, and anyone with park admission,” he added.
Discovery Park of America is located at 830 Everett Blvd. in Union City, TN. You can keep up with what is going on at the park, including upcoming educational and entertaining events, by visiting the website at www.discoveryparkofamerica.com . In addition to offering educational and interesting traveling exhibits, the park is 50 acres of a unique blend of history, science, architecture, art and fun.
Photo 1: Lauren Aldridge, daughter of Martina and Jason Aldridge, and Makaily Thomason, daughter of Cheryl and Dwight Thomason, of Union City High School. They were part of the UCHS team that built the Juror’s Favorite design entitled, “Strike out Hunger” during the CanStruction Competition
Photo 2: Obion County Central High School students Cole Guess, Hudson Angel, Jaxon Via