Hoban students do not have to worry about going to bed without having eaten all day. However, some people in the Akron area do have this problem, and Hoban's response is the canned food drive.

Yesterday, the drive ended. Easily exceeding the schoolwide goal of 27,000, the unofficial final can count was 34,482.

Campus minister Scott Kopp, who runs the canned food drive, starts each new drive with some apprehension.

"I'm always a little nervous in the beginning that we set the goal a little too high," Kopp said. "However, we always meet and surpass it."

The first-period class with the most cans wins the coveted Golden Can award and bragging rights until the next drive. This year Mary Lou Swinerton's Spirituality class won it with 4,247 cans.

The two front-runners throughout the drive were Swinerton's class and Jason Dzik's World Cultures class.

With over 1,000 cans on the first day of the drive, Swinerton's class jumped to an early lead and managed to maintain it for most of the drive. She attributes this success to the character of the students in her first-period class.

"This was entirely kid-generated," Swinerton said. "This class has great kids who want to win it. I am truly blessed this year with an outstanding first-period class."

Although she had a good early lead, Swinerton and Dzik started passing the lead back and forth toward the end of the drive.

Both teachers enjoyed the rivalry.

"The idea behind this is not competition." Dzik said. "We know it's all in good fun, and it's for a good cause."

Swinerton gives all the credit for her win to the class.

"I am so proud of my first period," Swinerton said. "It is the best part of coming to Hoban."

In third and fourth place in the first-period competition are Cindi Kinnan's English 10 class and Esther Wain-Weiss's geometry class, respectively.

Another competition exists between the four grade levels. This year the seniors won, with sophomores second, freshmen third and juniors last.

Kopp is impressed with the effort put forth in the food drive each time around, and this year is no exception.

"Every year I've been here, I've always been proud to tell people through the holidays, 'Look what we did!'" Kopp said.