Sweet Victory: Gingerbread House Competition
The festive aroma of gingerbread wafted out of Grainger last Saturday night as students poured in through the doors to partake in this year’s annual gingerbread house making contest.
The event, sponsored by St. Anthony’s Bakery, brought students together to see which team of gingerbread architects could envision, design and execute the construction of a gingerbread family’s ideal compound. Students, in teams of four, were given an hour and a half before a panel of “professional judges” scored their creations. This year's teams proved to be as impressive, each vying for one of three top positions in an effort to win Grill bucks.
Marking the midpoint of this two-week stretch between Thanksgiving and winter breaks, the competition was a great way to add variety to the typical Saturday night events. Some students worked diligently on their houses, even hissing at anyone who walked too close, while others were found smearing frosting on each other, running in and out of the bathroom every five minutes and “accidentally” creating piles of crushed gingerbread covered in candy.
According to senior Julia Leatham, the competition was one of the most “luxurious” events of the year. After winning last year’s competition, she described the event and her love for the competition.
“It is the ultimate test of fine motor skills, and it goes without saying that it is the pinnacle of all things design in the realm of baked goods,” she said. “Walking in last year to see the various cuts and sizes of real gingerbread—not just graham crackers as is offered at most schools—I was hooked.”
Leatham and her team sought to recreate their past success, looking to last year for guidance. According to her, the key to last year’s success was innovation, as her teamed “redefined what it means to build a gingerbread house.” She described this process.
“Forget the box, we created a pentagonal base,” she said. “We also built more than just a wall. Our house defied societal norms and transcended into a multi-denominational home. Winning showed me that the twenty-first century is truly a time of change and acceptance, and that’s the thought I held in my mind through training this past year."
Despite strong competition, the team of lower Margaret Kraus, upper Rachel Luo, upper Eloise Shields and upper Bella Thilmany took the title of gingerbread house constructing champions for the 2015 holiday season, dethroning Leatham and her team. The victor’s model of Phillips Church, complete with a gingerbread version of the Academy’s minister, Reverend Robert H. Thompson, and two gingerbread Santas on a date during Evening Prayer, won the hearts of the judges.
In regard to the event, Kraus said that the evening was “enjoyable, and I'd do it again because it was a fun social event that you could take seriously but also just screw around if you wanted to.”
Kraus continued to elaborate on her experience, noting a heightened sense of sisterhood with her friends due to the competition. “We had to support each other to make sure the church didn’t collapse. Everyone had a job on the team, and even the person just holding stuff together contributed a lot to the success of our team." You know what they say, ‘There’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is one in win and also in gingerbread house making champions 2015.’”
Thilmany echoed her teammates’ sentiments, saying, “[The competition] got me in a jolly mood for the first time this year and it was fun to make a mess with my friends while making a huge castle thing. It was just very relaxing to make a mess.”
Students hope that the good-humored competition will be continued for years to come, and many expressed that it’s a great way to relieve stress. Upper Raul Galvan put it best, saying, “The festive change of atmosphere was engaging since there aren’t many things to do on such a cold night. Having an event other than a dance was really great for spending time with friends. And I mean, hey, who doesn’t like candy?”