ALANA KELLEN
kellenar@lopers.unk.edu

A campus event that has been held for 14 years still gets students into the Christmas spirit. Students were invited to the student union to compete in the gingerbread house competition hosted by LPAC.

Jalea Chandler, an elementary education major from Anselmo, was in charge of putting together the gingerbread competition with the help of volunteers from LPAC. Chandler also enjoys this event because it helps give students a break before finals and it gets people in the Christmas spirit.

“I just really like being a part of the campus and putting on events for people to enjoy,” Chandler said. “I just really like being involved.”

There was a total of 33 teams that had signed up for the competition. Graham crackers and frosting were provided by LPAC, but the rest of the ingredients were to be brought by the teams. All items used besides the pan the house is set on had to be edible as well. 

“There are three judges who walk around and mark up their scoring sheets, which we tally at the end,” Chandler said. “The students are judged based on creativity, originality, making sure everything used is edible, making sure nothing is made beforehand, and how they work together as a team.”

One student who has competed in the gingerbread competition before was ready for a win. Joslyn Grabill, a senior exercise science major from Roseland has been competing for four years now. 

“I think this year was probably the best we’ve done, but Freshman year was a disaster,” said Grabill. “I like this event because it gives me a little brain break so close to finals. It takes my mind off of finals and makes me put all my effort into making the best gingerbread house.”

Chandler plans this event during her own busy schedule. Between work and her own school, most of her free time was spent planning this event.

“I like having it right by finals because everyone’s getting ready and excited to go home, so it’s kind of a fun time to have everyone gather,” said Chandler. “It’s especially fun for freshmen to meet new people and just have a fun experience at UNK.”

The winners of the gingerbread competition were Cy Cannon, Adrian Gomez, Mila Serefko, Rishav Srivastava, Wynn Cannon, and Samantha Rau. Cy Cannon a senior double majoring in multimedia and psychology from Silver Creek has been on the winning team for the past two years now. Cannon and his teammates won the grand prize of $150. 

“We had a really ambitious plan and we worked well to get it done,” said Cannon. “We came up with the idea of doing Cope Stadium last year after competing and it came into play since they’re going to the Mineral Water Bowl this year.”

Cannon enjoys competing in the gingerbread competition, but says it stresses him out. Since the students were only given 30 minutes to build their houses, the competition can be stressful for some.