Students and faculty came together in the lecture hall to participate in the seventh annual gingerbread competition held on Dec. 3.
Since the German honor society started the competition seven years ago, the event has become a traditional part of the holiday season and has gained some fame around the school.
“The very first year we had nine entries,” German honor society advisor Cheryl Finley said. “This year we have thirty two entries with five of those coming from the faculty.”
Students and faculty who joined were required to create teams of at least two people and worked to create pieces that ranged from traditional houses to grand ski chalets. There were also more irregular pieces, such a recreation of Edward Munch’s famous portrait “The Scream”, created by a team of art teachers.
“The faculty has gotten really involved,” Finley said. “There are even some intense faculty rivalries.”
Some students also went for more atypical designs, such as the group Confections and Nutritious Delicacies incorporated, or CAND Inc., who created a gingerbread fun land. The design took a week to plan and included a base made entirely of gingerbread.
“We built a circus,” Junior Ben Miranda said. “We have a Ferris wheel, a big top, a lake, and a merry-go-round.”
Another group of four built Munchkin Land from the Wizard of Oz. This group began working on Saturday, spending three hours baking the gingerbread and cutting out the pieces.
“We didn’t have a particular reason for building it,” senior Maya Loehr said. “We were looking for something fun to do and just decided on the idea at lunch one day. We wanted to do something from a movie and then we thought of the Wizard of Oz. Munchkin land is the most colorful, so we decided to do that.”
Team Sassssy member Carlie Sigle has participated in the contest every year.
“It’s an important South Lakes tradition because it brings everyone together in the holiday spirit,” Sigle said.
Team Sassssy got creative with their design after their first house once crumbled, giving a modern spin to a traditional setting.
“We built some sleighs and a pizza” Sigle said. “The pizza said hashtag yolo on it.”
The following are this year’s winners:
Best Graham Cracker Entry: Winter in China
Best Gingerbread: Santa’s Winterland
Best Multi-Demensional: Winter Wonderland
Most Thematic: Hunger Games-The Reaping
Most Whimsical: Candy Inc. Circus
Most Creative Disaster: Christmas Earthquake
Best in Show: Candy Inc. Circus