Cambrian, LU put CANstruction skills to the test

A group of Cambrian College second-year civil engineering students are teaming up to build a minion from the movie “Despicable Me” – using only cans of food.

Cambrian is entering three teams in this year’s CANstruction competition. They will be pitted against a team from Laurentian University’s School of Architecture.

Each team received $1,000 with which to purchase non-perishable food supplies for their construction projects. All food and pledges will go to the Sudbury Food Bank.

Cambrian College’s three teams are first- and second-year civil engineering students, plus one team made up of faculty and staff: President Bill Best; Vice-President Academic Sonia DelMissier; Sherrill McCall, Dean of the School of Engineering Technology; Joan Campbell, Dean of the School of Business and Information Technology; Professors Jeff Walker, Brent Eckert, Daryl Charette and David Willcock; and Dan Walsh, a technologist in the School of Engineering Technology.

The staff and faculty team will build a lightbulb with the words “Let Your Light Shine.” The first-year students plan to build a Creeper from the game Minecraft.

“This is a great opportunity for the students, as well as staff, to work together on a complex project,” Walker said. “It also gets them involved in their community, which is so important. I want my students to understand the need to be community minded and to carry that lesson with them beyond graduation.”

This year’s CANstruction competition is sponsored by Fontaine & Associates Inc., Wholesale Club – National Grocers Cash and Carry, the New Sudbury Centre, 674-JUNK, Cambrian College, Laurentian University, Petryna Advertising, the Lougheed Family and Staff, NorthernLife.ca and EastLinkTV.

CANstruction runs from March 7-13, 2015 at the New Sudbury Centre. The build starts the morning of March 8 and goes all day.