By Mark Bauer/se news editor

For the fifth year in a row, a dozen SE students showed up at Northeast Mall to show what they could do with their cans … build a coliseum.

Arnold Radman, instructor of architectural engineering, and 12 of his students participated in the ninth annual Canstruction event in Tarrant County Oct. 14.

Sponsored by the Society for Design Administration and the American Institute of Architects, the event is intended to combat hunger in the local community by exhibiting structures made up of thousands of food cans and boxes.

Collecting all the cans used in the structure as well as preparing the design itself involves a lot of time and effort, Radman said.

“ We started planning back in May,” he said.

Competing against 13 professional firms, TCC is the only school in the area to participate in the event.

Radman considers it a privilege for the students to gain an opportunity to play among the “big boys” and is surprised no other schools in the area are involved.

“ We have had a couple of summer students from UTA come out and help us in years past,” he said, “but that’s it.”

The Caniseum, consisting of 3,000 cans, was donated to the Tarrant Area Food Bank once the competition was over. In all, Radman and his students made a contribution of more than 6,000 canned soup products.

Radman said he hopes the students will continue to support the local food banks once they leave TCC and are well into their careers.

“ I believe it is important for the students to have an opportunity to give back to the community where they live and help them give back to those less fortunate,” he said.

Having won honorable mention in years past, he said some of the students were disappointed they did not walk away with any awards for this year’s entry.

But after it was all over, Radman said it is clear who the real winners were: the food banks.

The Canstruction exhibit collected 65,000 cans from the demolished structures to give to local food banks.