Sixth graders completed their structure of a food truck, built of Goya cans, at the Poughkeepsie Galleria mall! The truck is striking for several reasons: it has a lighted sign, reading How CAN I help you? It has brightly lit headlights. It has a steering wheel, a big attraction, since when buttons are pushed, it honks and a voice intones “How CAN I help you?

Best of all, the structure has over 3000 cans! The labels are arranged to help the depiction, and students accessorized with condiments and a compassionate menu. The project will help many people in the Hudson Valley.

Students found the work fun and also challenging. It is not easy to meticulously line up cans for several hours at the end of a week. Unless the cans were placed precisely, the stability of the structure would not be sound. Yet, when a builder is close to the can, it was hard to see where adjustments need to be made. The builders had to listen to a lot of feedback from the slide lines.

The suspense of seeing the students lift and place each layer of masonite for the new level of the truck was particularly exciting. We all had a burst of pride when the sign was plugged in and the windshield wipers began to move!

The structure, along with the work of the Randolph School and High Meadow School, will be on display for a week. We have field trips going to the mall from classes this week in order to admire the work. During those trips, students will bring more cans, because the event serves as a food drive– furthering the benefit for the food bank.

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