Wayland wins canned food drive for seventh consecutive year
![Smiling in a sea of Longhorns, Fox 2 reporter Ty Hawkins joins junior Darren Young during the morning Oct. 3 pep rally. The last time West was featured in this segment was 2011. “[I hope people see this and think] if you come to [Parkway] West, you will have the time of your life because there are so many fun activities to do that make it feel like you belong here. I was surprised so many people attended, but it was a lot of fun,” Young said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Edited2-600x399.jpg)
![West High seniors and families listen as a representative of The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, Teresa Steinkamp, leads a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) workshop. This session, held in the library, provided guidance on financial aid, scholarships and student loan options. “This event is very beneficial for any seniors who are applying to or considering applying to colleges after high school [because] the cost of college is on the rise for seniors and parents,” college and career counselor Chris Lorenz said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC_4478-600x389.jpg)
![Senior Kamori Berry walks across the field during halftime at the Homecoming football game on Sept. 12. During the pep assembly earlier that day, she was pronounced Homecoming Queen. “I thought it was nice that the crowd [started] cheering right away. I know [my friends] were really excited for me, and my family was happy because typically non-white people don't win,” Berry said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC7046-Enhanced-NR-600x399.jpg)
Carrying boxes of food raised in the annual history canned food drive, seniors Bailey Silva and Chris Kastberg add to the growing pile of over 3,500 cans. “It’s really important to help other people who might have less than we do. Bringing in a few cans seems like a really small thing but it can add up and do a lot to help other people,” Silva said.
Standing in the main foyer surrounded by 3,768 cans of food, social studies teachers Jeffrey Chazen and Annie Wayland direct students on how to stack the remaining cases. The next morning, volunteers from Parkway’s Food Pantry will be arriving at school to pick up all the donations; for now, the teachers revel in the victory of this year’s canned food drive.
“How am I feeling right now? I’m kind of feeling like Charlie Brown in the annual cartoon where Lucy keeps pulling the ball away from him,” Chazen said. “Even though I feel like every year I have a chance, every year Wayland beats me.”
Each year around the holiday season, Wayland and Chazen compete to see who can collect the most canned food. This includes spectacles like Government teacher Melvin Trotier playing guitar in the hallway and a giant can-counter in the middle of the social studies hallway that is slowly filled in over the course of the week. Wayland won for the seventh year in a row with 1,080 more cans than Chazen, coming in at a final tally of 2,424.
“Chazen’s been trying really hard to win this year. He started hyping [the drive] up a few weeks ago,” senior Bailey Silva said.
The teachers “draft” other social studies teachers onto their teams, then employ their own secret strategies to win.
“I’m just going to say that I lose, and I lose every year, and I can accept that. But I’m not going to go into strategies right now,” Chazen said, eyeing a laughing Wayland next to him. “There’s always hope. One year I will win, and we’ll throw the grandest of parties.”