Five UI students competed in gingerbread contest Thursday morning
Five University of Idaho students and Vandal Dining brought a little bit of holiday cheer to the Idaho Commons Thursday morning by way of the “Let It Snow” Gingerbread Contest.
The contest was simple — build the best gingerbread house.
The houses were judged on design, construction, use of the materials — in this case candy — and the teams overall creativity. In total three teams competed — two teams of two and one student that opted to go at it alone.
The contest was to help students loosen up near the end of the semester and give back to the Vandal community, said Katelyn Clark of Vandal Dining.
The winners won a pair of FitBit wireless wristbands and as a consolation prize the runners-up were awarded a free foot-long sub from Sub Connect, which is located in the Idaho Commons food court.
A member of the winning team, Alex Inskeep, a sophomore computer engineering major, was the driving force behind his team entering the contest.
His reluctant teammate was Allison Rowley, a fellow sophomore studying chemistry. She initially didn’t want to compete in the contest, Inskeep said.
“We were sitting right here and she (Clark) announces that there is two more spots left,” Inskeep said. “And she loves to make cookies and pies and whatnot so I was like ‘you should go do it.'”
He pulled her onto the stage and thought that would be the end of it. But before he could get back to his seat along the wall, she grabbed him by the hand and the competition began.
The three gingerbread houses were judged by three employees at the Idaho Commons food court.
Each of the three teams built solid houses and it appeared they all were having fun, which was ultimately all they wanted, Clark said.
Despite it being a contest, the atmosphere was pretty laid back. As peaceful music played in the background, all three teams were joking and having a good time on the stage in the commons.
“It was really chill,” Rowley said. “We just kinda went up there and they told us to make a gingerbread house, here’s the stuff and all of us standing up there were just having fun and chatting back and forth.”
Josh Gamez can be reached at [email protected]