Students De-Stress at Honors College Gingerbread Competition

Noah Pittmann stocks up on supplies for the Gingerbread Competition.

A student contemplates his creation.

All hands on deck as students build a graham cracker foundation.

Gummy bears frolic in “A Bear’s Wonderland.”

Gummy bears pull Santa’s candy cane sleigh.

Student Katharine Baird dips into a tub of frosting as she works on Whoville.

Students conducted extensive quality testing of materials.

Mary Kate Tucker, left, details Dr.Who’s Tardis time machine.

Architecture student Derek Hukill recreates New York City’s landmark, the Chrysler Building.

Olivia Caillouet, Chatherine Jensen, Anna Stoller and Jennifer Lynn beside “A Bear’s Wonderland.”

Nicole Davis and Kalli Frye-Bacile liberally apply blue frosting to Dr. Who’s Tardis

Merrily walking the graham cracker plank on a gingerbread pirate ship.

Cody Chisholm, Brittni Gober, Brandi Kee and Dillon Brunk pose by “Oy to the World.”

The Star Wars Millennium Falcon by artists are (l-r) Hannah Shameh, Nicholas Cremin, and Bryan Seel.

Stephanie Lang and Anne McAlister with Hagrid’s (Candy) Hut.

A student documents his project, the quintessential gingerbread house.

Lang and McAlister decode the Harry Potter iconography for Dean Bob McMath.

Noah Pittman tallies the scoring. “It’s the closest competition we’ve ever had!” he said.

Chris Crow, C.J. Serritt, Jennifer Fields, Sterling King, Courtney Blake, Timothy Byrne celebrate.

More than 100 students got a sweet study break courtesy of the Honors College at the sixth annual Gingerbread Competition that took place on Dead Day last Friday, Dec. 7.

“It’s a fun way for students to blow off steam during finals,” said Noah Pittman, assistant director of recruitment in the Honors College. “And this year more than 100 students registered – that’s the most we’ve ever had!”

On a supply run earlier that week, Pittman cleaned out the supply of graham crackers at a local Walmart and made a serious dent in the store’s stock of canned frosting, candy canes, cherry sours, peppermints and sprinkles. No matter. Just one-half hour into the event, a crew was dispatched to buy more sugary supplies.

The students used the sweet stuff to maximum impact, crafting everything from campus landmarks such as Bell Engineering and the Greek Theater to interstellar spacecraft. Dr. Who’s “Tardis” time machine inspired two teams, while another team recreated the closing scene from Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, right down to a gummy bear pulling the Grinch’s sleigh.

The Harry Potter books inspired several entries, including team #17’s “Hogwarts in the Winter Time,” an elaborate graham cracker castle studded with ice cream cone turrets and liberally slathered with pink frosting. “Just put icing on there, put icing on everything, and we’ll powder sugar it,” team supervisor Chris Crow enthused, as he burst open a powdered sugar bag to spectacular effect. Team 17’s “more is more” design philosophy resonated with the judges; “Hogwarts in the Winter Time” placed first in the competition. In second place was a beautifully detailed recreation of New York City’s Chrysler Building by Team #10, which included several first-year architecture students among its ranks. Third place went to Team #11’s interpretation of Dr. Who’s blue time machine, and fourth place went to Team #7’s loving recreation of the Whos of Whoville singing around a Christmas tree.