As the leaves turn red and orange and the air brims with holiday cheer, RM’s annual canned food drive returns. Every late October, students and staff look forward to hearing the canned food drive kickoff through the announcements, knowing they are taking part in something beyond themselves: Supporting those in need. While many are enthusiastic about this drive, one teacher is particularly dedicated to the cause: History and IB Theory of Knowledge teacher Kerri Fry, a six-year consecutive champion and otherwise known as the “Queen of Cans.”

In 2018, former long-time can drive champion Mr. Hines retired. The number of cans contributed began to dwindle, and the competition spirit was at a low. “I really saw my opening. I decided to get really enthusiastic about it … and was like, let’s do this. Let’s help our community,” Ms. Fry said.

With a large AP World History class that year, Ms. Fry set a simple goal for each of her 32 students: “If everybody just brings in two or three cans, we can win.”

At the end of the week of the food drive, her class had pulled it off. They had won—and solidified Ms. Fry’s dominance for the first time in many years. “It was amazing,” she said. “The omelet man came, and everybody was so excited.”

But a year later, in 2020, COVID-19 spread rampant, schools were shut down, and communities were forced into quarantine. The canned food drive was put on pause, and Ms. Fry was unable to obtain a truly consecutive win. However, the lockdown initiated a newfound spirit for community service. “[The pandemic] shone a light on the members of the community who really do need a lot of help,” Fry said.

In 2021, schools reopened and resumed normal operations, meaning the food drive was also back. Ms. Fry was determined to defend her crown, even after the momentary pause.

“I told my students that our favorite thing is helping people, because it always is. If you have the ability to help people, then you should help as much as you can,” she said. Ms. Fry emphasized helping the community and engaging in friendly competition. “It helped get other classes more involved in wanting to bring in as many kids as possible.”

The energy and enthusiasm of the drive have not been confined to Ms. Fry’s class. Every October, a few contentious classes and individuals emerge, seeking to overthrow her reign. One such individual is senior James Lemery. Since his start at RM in 2022, he has become one of Ms. Fry’s greatest rivals in the drive.

“For years, I’ve been a participant in the food drive,” Lemery said. He explains that a big reason for his role in the food drive is his rivalry with Ms. Fry. “She and I have both been going at each other since I was a freshman in Mr. Vicari’s class.”

Ms. Fry recounts the first time she saw Lemery, with his large crate of cans. “I said to Mr. Vicari, What’s going on?” It lit a fire in my students that year—we can’t let a freshman beat us.”

Their early encounter had quickly set the tone for the years that followed. Lemery approached the food drive with his own strategy. He sought out stores such as Amazon Fresh and Aldi, where he would buy as many cans in bulk as he could—packs of 24, for example, were particularly convenient to deliver to school. On her end, Ms. Fry’s strategy was to get the students excited. “I focused on trying to spend some time being a little crazy, which makes the kids laugh,” she said.

With each passing year, the Fry-Lemery rivalry only grew more spirited. By junior year, James Lemery had become a well-known force, an underdog with a determination that pushed classes to compete harder. Meanwhile, Ms. Fry changed up her tactics: she put up laminated posters and advertisements around the school, and even began posting announcements on Canvas. While she admits she did not realize her students’ parents received the Canvas announcements as well, their additional contribution was immensely helpful. “I think once the parents started seeing that the can drive was going on, the more cans started coming in,” she said. This year—the most “contentious” year in the Fry-Lemery rivalry—parents even drove their cars to school to drop off loads of cans.

This year, Ms. Fry witnessed something that left her more astounded than ever before. With a mere 16 students in her first-period class, they collected a staggering 2,424 within just one week of the drive –her highest total yet, and an unprecedented amount from any single class in the history of the RM food drive. “I’m really in awe of all of the students,” she said. “Everybody’s like, ‘How do you do it?’ And it’s not me. It’s really the kids. They constantly impress me.”

Senior Izzy Triandafilou, who helped run the drive as her first year in the SGA, was just as impressed. She watched classes bring in donations at unpredictable rates, but nothing was comparable to Ms. Fry’s incredible end-of-the-week surge. “[Ms. Fry] started very slowly, and on the last day, she had brought hundreds and thousands of cans. It was crazy,” she said. Still, what Triandafilou admired most was not just the numbers, but the spirit and culture behind them. “[Ms. Fry’s] main thing is helping others. It is not a competition for herself. She motivates people to support this incredible initiative.”

For Lemery, the food drive was both a tradition of service and a moment of personal growth. “I think one skill that was most important during this food drive was the community-building aspect,” he said. Additionally, Lemery’s dedication opened his eyes to the realities that many families face. “[The drive] made me more aware of how much people are in need. [It] does a really good job of giving back to families and communities.”

Looking forward, both students and staff hope the same spirit spreads across even more classrooms. Lemery, who will graduate this year, envisions what the drive could become. “I hope other teachers besides Ms. Fry motivate their classes as much as she does, so our community can be fueled by the amount of giving back we do,” he said. He visualizes a schoolwide effort so strong that the goal for every student and staff member is to give back if they can. “It shouldn’t just be one class, but it should be many people.”

For Ms. Fry, her goals remain as ambitious as ever. She is already planning for next year, determined to break the record her 16-student class just set. “I would love to beat the record of 2,424 cans,” she said. “I could definitely do it if they put more kids in my first period class—it’s like they’re trying to work against me,” she laughed. “But I cannot be beaten.”