20 teams participate in DATA Gingerbread House contest

By Nichelle Harris Assignments Editor

This article was originally posted in the Big Stick print publication Dec. 19, 2018.

On Friday Dec. 14, DATA architect teacher Katy Philbrick hosted the eighth annual Gingerbread House building contest in order to collect canned food for the San Antonio Food Bank, which provides families in need with groceries.

“In order for the students to collect decorations for their houses students had to bring in cans for an exchange,” said Philbrick.

Between 55-60 students comprised 20 teams who competed to build their best gingerbread house in the time limit of an hour.

Though the nal weight of food will be determined by the Food

Bank, Philbrick said when the students loaded it, it filled her entire trunk.

“It was fun because we were able to do something Christmasy while raising food for those in need,” senior Kira Reyna said.

When the contest time was
up, DATA director Christina Mank-Allen, DATA counselor Carolyn Lockamy, and DATA teacher Wright Daggett went around to judge the students’ gingerbread houses before deciding the winner of the contest.

Team XOXO won, consistign of Megan Burciaga, Grace Christensen, Carmen Centeno and Addison Correll. Not pictured is Krishan Unbongen.

Winning rst place was Team XOXO, consisting of seniors Megan Burciaga, Carmen Centeno, Krishan Ubongen, Addison Corell and junior Grace Christensen.

Ubongen said they brought in around 20-30 cans total, and decided go to with a Valentine’s theme.

“I brought in ve cans total,” Ubongen said. “My dad took me to H-E-B for shopping. I had fun doing something while giving something in return.”

Burciaga has had a hand in winning the competition all three years she’s been able to compete (last year’s event was cancelled). The secret, she said, is to veer away from the same old thing.

“There’s a lot of teams and they’re all Christmas,” Burciaga said. “We had to have a different theme to stand out and win. Don’t be afraid to be different.”