The New School’s First CANley Cup

Photo Credit: Kaylen Yip

Disclosure: Mackenzie Chung is a reporter for the Griffins’ Nest.

The CANley Cup — a district-wide fundraiser for those with financial difficulties, hosted by the Vancouver District Student Council (VDSC) — has returned for its thirteenth year. According to VDSC’s website, “Schools are encouraged to hold friendly competitions” to win the CANley Cup trophy, which is awarded to the student body that raises the most money.

Hamber’s Student Council (StuCO) organized three big events to fundraise for the CANley Cup. In the first event, students purchased goodie bags — dubbed candy grams — that were delivered to them in class. StuCo vice-president Mackenzie Chung (12) explained that “as a council, we spent the most time on candy grams, since that event required selling and distribution over the course of four days.”

The candy grams event was a favourite for many StuCo members. “It was a really fun way for students to [give and] receive gifts [...] and deliver messages, while also having fun events in between classes,” said Grade 10 Representative Lydia Choi (10).

“My favourite part of working on the CANley Cup with Hamber’s StuCo is finding ways to expand our traditions,” co-president Arabella Mew (12) said. While StuCo had organized similar candy gram events in the past, they were able to add new options this year, opting to also sell stickers and balloon animals.

“Our entire council got to learn how to make balloon animal dogs, so we got to bond as a council during the making process as well,” Chung said.

The Spicy Noodle Challenge — in which participants raced to finish a cup of Buldak noodle — was StuCo’s second event.

“My whole face was on fire, but it was alright. Winning felt great,” said Mr. E. Lau (LALS), who was named champion after finishing his noodles in 19 seconds.

“I’ve volunteered my time at homeless shelters before, and I like that Hamber is raising funds to help those in need,” Mr. Lau reflected.

The final event hosted was the fall marketplace, a collaboration between StuCo and other Hamber clubs. StuCo co-president Daniel Choi (12) said this was his favourite event, because, “a lot of students were able to purchase foods for not too much of an expensive price.”

“We’ve all had to adapt to using our new space this year, especially for events in the atrium,” said Chung. In the old building, StuCo was able to block off half of the cafeteria for events, but since “there's not a way to do that in the new school, managing the flow of traffic has been notably a larger piece [of organizing events] in this new space.”

 “After moving to the new school, we weren’t able to host a haunted house. That was a big major change because of restrictions on putting stuff on the wall, and also because we don’t have the maze anymore,” said D. Choi. “But instead we implemented the halloweek, which we had Halloween events [for] every day.”

This included cookie decorating and a photo booth, with a spooky twist. His favorite part of working on the CANley cup was “bringing [staff and students] together towards the common goal, which is raising money for those in need.”

“The most important part of this initiative is ultimately the collective impact we’re able to have,” Mew added. “We want everyone to know the reason for these fundraisers and the work these organizations are doing.”

The VDSC council recently announced the CANley Cup results for this year. Point Grey took first place with 39.1 cans per student, Tupper placed second with 23.9 cans, and Prince of Wales placed third with 19.9 cans. The runners-up were Churchill in fourth place, with 12.7 cans per student, and Magee in fifth, with 11.9 cans. Across the VSB, schools raised a total of nearly 200,000 cans for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

As VDSC co-presidents, Mew and Chung have directed students across the District to host the competition. “I really enjoy seeing the creativity of VDSC members when we brainstorm at our meetings. With CANley Cup, there have been so many fun methods of promotion and new event ideas,” said Mew. “It’s incredible to have students from all 18 secondary schools and from the VSB’s alternate programs working together.”