Finally the day arrived for IA’s ginger bread house build off competition. We have been working on this event for almost a month, from brainstorming, to organizing, and finally implementing. Things began to fall into places this week. Seven teams popped up on the last day and we ended up with 12 teams in the competition. I received confirmations from Dean Denise, Mike McKenna, and Professor Gendron to be the judges; Trista ordered ginger bread kits from a bakery; Mary found nice trophies and got them engraved. On Wednesday we went shopping for candies and other event supplies. It was my craziest candy shopping day and it was great fun discovering the world of sweets. The event took place on Saturday afternoon at Dana Commons. My suitemates and I formed a team called “Homemakers”. I LOVE building ginger bread houses! My friend Ali made a Jewish star on the roof with marshmallows and chocolate dots, which should be titled the best multicultural roof. I decorated the other half of the roof with all colors of gum drops, kisses, gummy fishes, candy wafers, and so on, which should be titled the best use of candy if they have this prize. However, we had a hard time stabilizing the walls since the roofs were too heavy. Sam contributed a lot in structuring, Bridget found ribbon candies which support the house well, and Nick assisted as a good candy opener. It was great working with my suitemates as a team to collaborate and achieve something together. “Homemakers” is the best. Some other teams were composed of both students and professors, such as the studio art department team which was the winner, and the music department team whose house was chosen as the most habitable one. It was a good opportunity to strengthen the bonds between students and professors through an outside classroom event. There was also a “playground” where students who did not sign up can come and design their own ginger bread men. We will make the gingerbread house build-off competition an annual event and hopefully it will become a lasting tradition.
