GUILDERLAND — Eighth-graders cheered wildly as they lined the corridors at Farnsworth Middle School on Thursday to watch a snake of cereal boxes succumb to the domino effect.

Only twice — once at the very end — did the cascade need a hand to make the next box fall.

The cereal will be donated to the Guilderland Food Pantry.

This was the second year for the event, organized by eighth-grade math teachers Todd Hanson, Rebecca Been, Mary Grace Judge, Patty Ryan, and Stephanie Cambrea. Each had their students collect full-size cereal boxes, with over 350 boxes donated, topping last year’s 300.

Cereal is a staple food-pantry item as it’s used both for clients as well as the Guilderland Backpack Program, according to John McDonnell who directs the Guilderland Food Pantry. Each week, the pantry sends 65 elementary and middle school students home with backpacks that contain items for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The project is a fit with the math curriculum. “We are finding the surface area of prisms and the cereal box is a prism,” said Been.

She also said, “A lot of our students don’t realize that the person sitting next to them might need food. And until a child’s basic needs are met, they can’t learn.”

Ryan added that students have lost a lot because of the pandemic like field trips and other fun activities. “Coming together as an entire eighth grade in the school, they don’t have as many opportunities as before. So it’s the small things like this that gives them more of a sense of community.”