Complete: 12/05/2012
The
holiday season -- my favorite time of the year. People are in a better
mood, it's around the time of my birthday, and the opportunity to
fulfill yet another item on my bucket list certainly helped. My workplace has yet again had an inadvertent hand in my being able to
check another thing on my list. Every semester, I am tasked with
organizing an appreciation dinner that usually combines a meal with some
bonding activity for our student ambassadors, who volunteer their time
and leadership to promote our academic programs and co-curricular
activities. This semester, I decided on dinner and a gingerbread
house-making competition to fit the holiday theme.
While a bunch of items on my bucket list may seem random, it's awesome when I can add a meaningful twist behind accomplishing something on my list. Well, this time was a perfect
opportunity with the annual Gingerbread Festival fundraiser coordinated
by Easter Seals Hawaii. They help individuals with disabilities and special needs and their families
live better lives. I've volunteered at the event held at the Blaisdell
several times in the past, and always found it charming that families
actually come together to build their gingerbread houses. I also read somewhere
that all the proceeds collected from this fundraiser go directly towards
the organization, so that's a plus. Luckily they have to-go
kits available for purchase, and so I went ahead and bought 4 for our
group's dinner.
Volunteering at the 2010 Gingerbread Festival
At
the appreciation dinner a few days later, the students were split into
four teams. The staff served as judges and based their decision for
overall winner based on the following factors: maximum 10 points for
creativity; maximum 10 points for presentation; 5 points for using at
least 80% of each type of ingredient used, 2 bonus points if all
ingredients are used; and one point for each CTAHR undergraduate major
incorporated in the gingerbread structure.
Creative juices flowing, each team came up with awesome ideas for the gingerbread house. I must say I was part of a team who not only had previous experience building gingerbread houses, but who also knew their stuff about our college's majors and were especially original with their ideas to use up the ingredients. A more detailed explanation of what we built:
Alongside the walls are marred and injured animals (some with broken limbs), all waiting in line for the veterinarian to operate on them (ANSC). This side also has a clear view of the genetically modified palm tree where the coconuts grow atop, as opposed to under the leaves, of the tree (PEB). The bottom right is a vegetable garden with a gummy bear food inspector testing the nutritional value of the food being grown (FSHN). Kind of bummed that there's no clear shot of it, but in the food garden is a horsefly (creatively done by cutting the front legs off one animal cracker and attaching it upside down to the back of a horse animal cracker to serve as its wings from the front view), which is the invasive pest that we're trying to protect the food against (PEPS).
Then on the roof are gummy bears installing solar panels to draw power from a renewable energy source (NREM). Fantastic work, teammates.
So after 50 minutes of building, teams presented their prized, final masterpieces. Props to everyone who participated because each structure came out excellent. Here's how the other teams fared:
Hard at work
Creative juices flowing, each team came up with awesome ideas for the gingerbread house. I must say I was part of a team who not only had previous experience building gingerbread houses, but who also knew their stuff about our college's majors and were especially original with their ideas to use up the ingredients. A more detailed explanation of what we built:
Inside the structure
We
first started with the structure, which we decided would be a
classroom. The students are intently listening to a lecture about
baby/infant development (FAMR). If you look closely, you'll see a red
gummy bear baby at the front of the classroom, which is what the
students are studying. He's in a diaper, and a designer one at that
(APDM).
View of one side
Perched
by the windows are two gummy bear designers, who are intently sewing
the decorative drapes. Along the edge of the roof are gears that create natural energy to power the classroom (BE). The bottom left is a soil
garden (12 types of soil, to be exact) that gummy bear soil scientists are
examining (TPSS).
View of other side
Alongside the walls are marred and injured animals (some with broken limbs), all waiting in line for the veterinarian to operate on them (ANSC). This side also has a clear view of the genetically modified palm tree where the coconuts grow atop, as opposed to under the leaves, of the tree (PEB). The bottom right is a vegetable garden with a gummy bear food inspector testing the nutritional value of the food being grown (FSHN). Kind of bummed that there's no clear shot of it, but in the food garden is a horsefly (creatively done by cutting the front legs off one animal cracker and attaching it upside down to the back of a horse animal cracker to serve as its wings from the front view), which is the invasive pest that we're trying to protect the food against (PEPS).
Back view of classroom
Then on the roof are gummy bears installing solar panels to draw power from a renewable energy source (NREM). Fantastic work, teammates.
So after 50 minutes of building, teams presented their prized, final masterpieces. Props to everyone who participated because each structure came out excellent. Here's how the other teams fared:
Team 1
Creative manger style display and also liked the flower
Team 2
Loved how sustainable their structure was (see their sunroof?)
Team 4
Favorite part was the car (which runs on biofuels) that was charging in the garage
After deliberation, who did the judges choose as the winners of the contest? Team 3! Go teammates!
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