The Triumphs and Trials of Creating Gingerbread Houses

by Tasha Streitmatter

It’s that time of year again at Princeville High School. The halls are filled with a swirling scent of cinnamon. 

Mary Schoedel, the Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) teacher, has been guiding her foods classes while they bake and build gingerbread houses. The finished products will be taken to the annual Gingerbread House Contest at EB Buildings & Lumber Co. on December 1st where they will be judged during Princeville’s Holiday Homecoming. 

Throughout the past month, it has been a journey for the Foods students. There has been a lot of hard work gone into creating the houses, and it was not done alone. To build something like this “you have to make every component” starting from the construction of the house to the intricate detailing, according to Emily Green. 

To get through all the steps of creating a gingerbread house there are many improvisations required of the whole group working on the house. Emily’s group had to deal with their gingerbread breaking and had to come up with the idea to use a sugar glaze to keep the pieces together. 

For Schoedel, her favorite part about the project is assigning it to her students. The students get to come up with all sorts of ideas for what they want to create and Schoedel enjoys seeing what will become for the reality of their houses. 

In previous years, this assignment has been quite stressful for her, but this year she says that when something has gone wrong it has been an “easy fix” and she loves that this year none of her students have given up or “stopped the process.” As students are learning to go with the flow of things, so is Mrs. Schoedel.  

“Things are going to happen and you just deal with them,” said Schoedel. 

This year the most memorable learning experience for Schoedel is the pride of her students. The majority of the students are truly enjoying the end product for their gingerbread houses. It can be difficult to imagine the look at the end, but it’s rewarding for the students to see how an “idea becomes a reality,” mentioned junior Cassie Berchtold.