A group of around 25 high school students spent part of the day Monday creating art sculptures out of canned foods as part of a project through the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley’s Student United Way Board to address problems in the area. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — There will be an ExtravaCANza at West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

Local high school students involved in the Student United Way Board gathered throughout the day Monday at the WVU-P Caperton Center for Applied Technology to create art sculptures using donated and purchased canned foods, said David Creel, director of Special Events & Projects at WVU-P.

The sculptures will be on display for around three weeks. Creel said they are organizing a reception for people to come in and view the works.

Once the showing is complete, the canned goods will be given to the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley to help restock local food banks following the holidays, he said.

”These amazing students gave up their Martin Luther King Day holiday and braved the snowy cold weather to unite on campus today for this amazing project,” Creel said. ”Any time we can pull in community involvement from the local high schools is always a wonderful thing.

Clay Burrows, co-chairman of the local Student United Way Board’s Hunger Solutions Committee and a student at PSHS, works on a can sculpture project Monday at the WVU-P Caperton Center for Applied Technology. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

”These kids are from all different high schools. They are breaking down those walls and building those bridges amongst themselves.”

Students were present from Parkersburg High School, Parkersburg South High School, Williamstown High School, Parkersburg Catholic High School, Belpre High School and Warren High School.

Weather and road conditions in parts of the area prevented some students from being able to make it in, said Haddae Allen, vice president of the Student United Way Board and a student at PHS.

The Student United Way Board met in early December to figure out a project they wanted to do.

”We are hitting issues in the Mid-Ohio Valley and hunger is one of them,” said Clay Burrows, co-chairman of the Board’s Hunger Solutions Committee and a student at PSHS.

Isaiah Kennedy of Parkersburg South High School and Hannah Adkins of Parkersburg High School are part of the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley’s Student United Way Board that visited the WVU-P Caperton Center for Applied Technology Monday to create art sculptures using canned foods to help raise awareness of the area’s hunger problems. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

They collected the majority of the food throughout the holiday season with donation bins at local businesses, Allen said.

Many food pantries receive donations leading up to the holidays and give out a lot of food throughout the holiday season.

”We asked the question of ‘What happens after the holidays?”’ Burrows said.

”Come January and February, all of that has been used up and it is a while before people give again,” Allen added.

The group decided to help give to the pantries during this slow season when many people will be in need.

Quentin Kennedy, a student at Parkersburg South High School, helps assemble a sculpture of donated canned foods at the WVU-P Caperton Center for Applied Technology as part of a project through the local Student United Way Board to bring attention to the issue of hunger in the area. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Organizers estimated around 2,000 cans of food were used to create the sculptures with many of the cans being donated and more bought with money raised.

”We held off on building these because we wanted to wait after the holidays so we could replenish and refill after they were used throughout the holiday season,” Burrows said.

The Student Board is made up of students from seven area high schools with around 60 members, said Stacy DeCicco, executive director of the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley. Around 25 of those members participated in Monday’s project.

The projects the students work on are self-driven with the kids coming up with ideas on how to deal with them, DeCicco said.

”They work at understanding the community and where the needs are at and try to figure out ways to address it,” she said.

“The Beehive” is one of three sculptures created out of canned foods Monday at the WVU-P Caperton Center for Applied Technology by the local Student United Way Board to bring attention to the issue of hunger in the area. (Photo Provided)

On a day off from school and when the area faced weather concerns, the students decided to come out for a day of service on Martin Luther King Day.

DeCicco said the kids’ energy and drive excites her in how this generation is looking at the problems in the community and finding ways to address them.

”They really are a great group of kids,” she said.

Three sculptures were being created and three groups of students planning and putting them together. The pieces are “Thor’s Hammer,” “The Beehive” and “Minion.”

”It raises awareness for what we are trying to do,” Burrows said. ”The point of this is to raise awareness of hunger.

”Hearing it from kids our age really does make an impact. We had no idea when we joined what the issues were facing the area. Seeing it and doing this project does open your eyes. At the end of the day it speaks to a much bigger cause. Hopefully this gets the word out and gets people talking,” Burrows said.