Extra Gum Helps Lanxiang Young Artisans Showcase Their Skills, Focused and Carefree in Every Moment

JinanMay 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Recently, the 2026 Shandong Lanxiang Technician College “Freestyle Skills” Carnival, exclusively sponsored by Mars’ gum brand Extra, grandly kicked off. Over a thousand Lanxiang teachers and students gathered on campus to partake in a “skills feast” featuring a high-light skills showcase, immersive challenges, and fun, interactive science experiences. This carnival marks the third consecutive year of deep collaboration between the two parties. From the hardcore dance of giant excavators to the fingertip artistry of challenge courses, Extra gum accompanied the entire journey, helping Lanxiang’s skilled artisans chew their way to a relaxed, optimal state, achieving self-regulation and positive growth amidst the breath-holding focus of practical training and skill competitions.

In recent years, industrial upgrades have driven a growing demand for high-quality technical and skilled talent, with societal attention on vocational education continuously rising. Shandong Lanxiang Technician College has always upheld a professional attitude in deeply cultivating the vocational education field. This year’s “Freestyle Skills” Carnival, as one of the school’s highest-standard and largest annual events, attracted enthusiastic participation from students across the campus, creating a broad stage to showcase professional excellence and unleash vitality.

Among the highlights, Lanxiang’s flagship excavator program debuted a performance featuring a robotic-arm version of the “moonwalk,” using its front end to precisely open the cap of an Extra gum bottle. Following the swing of the mechanical arm, the exquisite characters for “Freestyle” (自在) flowed from the tip of a brush, and finally, a display wall built from Extra gum cans was erected. The stark contrast between the “massive machine” and “hairline precision” not only delivered a powerful visual impact but also vividly illustrated the indispensable “focus” behind hardcore skills. Other skill challenges, such as drone obstacle courses, blindfolded vegetable cutting, and makeup styling PKs, similarly maximized “precise control” and “on-the-spot composure,” drawing constant cheers from the audience.

Whether maneuvering giant machinery or honing fingertip skills with meticulous detail, focus remains the key to skill performance. Scientific research indicates that chewing gum can significantly enhance blood flow and oxygen supply signals to a range of brain regions, thereby helping to “alleviate tension” and “improve concentration.”

The science zone in the center of the playground vividly presented this discovery: knowledge was transformed into visually appealing and easy-to-understand science cards and tangible, interactive games, blending education with entertainment through fun props and display boards. Students gained a renewed understanding of “focus” by experiencing interactive games like “Freestyle Golden Shovel,” “Freestyle Frisbee,” and “Freestyle Throw.”

This understanding was also extended into the “Extra Skills Limit Challenge” — an immersive, campus-wide skills showcase jointly launched by five colleges: Automotive Engineering, Beauty and Makeup, Drone Technology, Culinary Arts, and CNC Machining. Students, holding customized challenge maps, navigated through the training venues of these five majors, experiencing the collision of skills and focus in each college’s unique challenges. Participants made friends through skills and honed their abilities through competition in the challenge stages, feeling the power of “freestyle” by chewing gum to steady their mindset before moving forward.

From initial exploration to today’s college-wide collaboration, the partnership between Extra and Lanxiang has spanned three years. In the future, Extra will continue to delve deeper into campus scenarios, conveying the positive solution of “chewing your way to a relaxed, optimal state” in ways that resonate more closely with young people, accompanying more students as they grow freely and bloom with confidence on diverse paths of development.