As students walked into school on Saturday, December 9th, the air was filled with anticipation and excitement for the Gingerbread House Competition. Rooms were filled with colorful bowls of candies arranged on desks, gingerbread house pieces, and bags of icing. After the other teams arrived to the room and the list of rules was read out, the much anticipated competition began.
As students walked into school on Saturday, December 9th, the air was filled with anticipation and excitement for the Gingerbread House Competition. Rooms were filled with colorful bowls of candies arranged on desks, gingerbread house pieces, and bags of icing. After the other teams arrived to the room and the list of rules was read out, the much anticipated competition began.
“We kind of went right into it, we constructed the frame at first,” says senior and participant in the competition, Victoria Zinczuk. “We had no plan so after we constructed it and put minimal decorations, we started talking about how the colors would compliment each other and after that it just all came together.”
The first annual Gingerbread House Competition was hosted by JROTC in order to raise money for a service learning project. Participants paid between $10 to $20, depending on the size of their team.
“We wanted to do a 5K run but given our allotted time, it was more than enough,” says organizer of the competition, Adrianna Lo. “So, then we began to think of something holiday-themed that everyone could do. So, we concluded the gingerbread competition where anyone and everyone could join in, and raise enough money to create care packages for sick children living at the Ronald McDonald House.”
The Gingerbread House Competition was held in various rooms throughout the school. Each room had gingerbread house pieces, two packets of candy and a bag of icing. Each room also provided additional icing and other types of candies such as candy canes.
“There were over 30 teams and over 100 people overall,” mentions Lo. “During the competition, there were roughly 25 people per room and I had fellow peers help out with managing each of the classrooms. I would have 2 people watch over each room and there were a total of 4 rooms.”
Teams were given an hour and fifteen minutes to construct and decorate their gingerbread houses. Some teams prepared for the competition in advance in order to be successful and win.
“We’re very competitive so we had thought about all different types of factors and we asked someone specifically, these different questions so that we could prepare,” Thea Boumakis, a junior, said.. “Like, ‘are we using a set?,’ and ‘what materials are we getting?,’ just so that we could get ready and have it worked out.”
During the competition, communication and cooperation between team members was important to ensure success.
“Me and my friend,we’re really close friends, so working with him was really great,” says Boumakis. “I feel like if I did it by myself it would have gone into a completely different direction and not how it came out. We communicated really well so it came out really good.”
Winners of the competition received cash prizes, ranging from $25 to $50 for winners in first to third place. The completed gingerbread houses were put in rows on display and voting for the winner was completed by JROTC students who were not part of the competition.
“We decided on the winners by having an anonymous group vote,” says Lo. “We did not inform the people voting that they would be voting until 5 minutes beforehand. We did not inform the participants either that way the voting stays fair and there is no cheating.
Overall, students in the competition enjoyed participating, whether they won or not.
“Everyone was just having fun. It was genuine fun. It was not anything crazy competitive,” says Boumakis. “There was no stealing ideas or peeking. Everyone was in their own group. We did what we had to do and whoever won deserved what they got and we had fun.”
Zinczuk agreed, adding “we talked, we laughed, we had fun.”
“I definitely enjoyed it, it was really fun,” says Zinczuk. “I didn’t really feel much pressure so it’s not like I was stressed. It definitely made me employ some creativity.”
Lo adds on about the successes of the competition.
“I personally enjoyed the competition, seeing my hard work in planning it pay off as well as the happiness and how much fun the other students had made me believe this event was successful and fun,” says Lo.
Even though certain issues occurred, like houses collapsing, Lo believes that the competition went “smoothly.”
“Considering it was the first time we did something like this and it was planned by students, it definitely met my expectations,” said Lo.
