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USF Canned-Goods Art Kicks Off Homecoming, Feeds Needy

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By MICHELE SAGER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2007

TAMPA - Bigger is better when it comes to the annual Charit-a-Bull can sculpture competition.

Ten teams competed in the event to kick off homecoming this week at the University of South Florida. Each team had 90 minutes to turn its collected canned goods into works of art.

The teams had to use the canned goods as the primary material but could add other items to finish the piece.

One team, made up of fraternity and sorority members from Alpha Delta Pi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Pi Kappa Alpha, made football jerseys out of felt for some canned products in the re-creation of a USF football game at Raymond James Stadium. The team used 1,125 cans to create the structure.

Meg Roberts and her teammates used 1,500 cans to create a standing bull, complete with a papier-mâche head.

"We wanted to do something different because we knew a lot of people make the stadium," Roberts said. "It took us a week just to make the head."

Dave Campaigne, who works in the undergraduate studies department, surveyed the final sculptures as one of the judges.

"I want to see if it fits the homecoming theme, how many cans the teams used and, of course, if I can figure out what the sculpture is," he said.

The judges struggled to identify Team Bulltopia's sculpture, which was the Parthenon. It wasn't the first problem of the day for the team, which had to reassemble a wall that crumbled 10 minutes before judging. The Parthenon sculpture had 920 cans.

The honor for top canned-goods sculptors went to the Phoenician Bullies, which created a USF-themed iPod out of more than 3,000 cans. Team members were confident with their odds since they have won the title every previous year.

The winning team received points that went toward the rest of the Homecoming Week competitions.

The ultimate winner, however, was Metropolitan Ministries, which received the 12,000 canned goods after the competition.

Reporter Michele Sager can be reached at (813) 865-4843 or msager@tampatrib.com.

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