Francisco’s IS 11 class was tasked with creating an original gingerbread house made out of real gingerbread (almost all of which was baked and provided by the IS teachers at NEIA). To complete this project, students would have to use all of the skills they’ve learned this year. “Our students have put immense effort and creativity into this project, showcasing various design approaches,” Francisco said. “Some have meticulously drawn their house designs, others have digitally crafted each part in 2D, and a few have even gone above and beyond by 3D modeling their creations. To ensure the success of their final gingerbread houses, students prototyped using cardboard to learn from the initial iterations of their designs.”
The project culminated in an event during the school day on Monday. In the Cafe, middle-schoolers attended with their class to see the creations, and so did 11th-grade guardians who had come to witness their innovator’s creation.
Each gingerbread house showed off that group’s collective creativity and craftsmanship. From one group’s Tree House design (complete with a pond with goldfish crackers) to a gingerbread house with candy stained-glass, our Innovators reinvented what a gingerbread house can be!
The houses were judged by NEIA Staff (River, Greg, Karen, and Mira). The four award categories and winners included:
Best Decoration went to Lila, Garen Milena, and Jacob.
Best Construction went to Grady, Olive, Gabe, and Sam.
Best Architecture went to Kevin, Ileana, Maya, and Kathryn.
Best Edible Gingerbread House went to Grady, Olive, Gabe, and Sam (the only group whose entire gingerbread house was edible).
