Ed-Tech culinary arts students design holiday gingerbread houses for charity benefit. Chelsea Gass (left) and Tara Hearns, both seniors at Lapeer East High School, students in the culinary arts program at the Lapeer County Education and Technology Center in Attica Township built a gingerbread White House. The gingerbread houses will be auctioned this weekend with proceeds going to Forgotten Harvest, a Detroit-based food bank organization. (Photo by Jennifer Decker)

The pair will leave the house gingerbread and will try to create a President-elect Sen. Barack Obama out of frosting for it. "We have to do the lights, a cotton candy fountain. We're really happy with it," said Hearns, who added the two will attend Obama's inauguration in January in Washington, D.C.

Chef Sally Steinborn, chief instructor in the culinary arts program at the Lapeer County Education and Technology Center, walked around Tuesday observing her students working on their gingerbread houses. Student houses will be donated to the Macomb Culinary Institute to be auctioned off with proceeds benefiting Forgotten Harvest, a Detroit-based food bank organization.

Instructions for the competition? The houses or structures must be made of edible materials, though the windows may be constructed from plastic sheeting. The facades were to all be made with gingerbread. Steinborn said the houses will be bid on and people will likely use the structures for center pieces.

"Macomb will make awards and medals for student portfolios," Steinborn said. "This is a good geometry lesson because they have to have accurate measurements."

Paige Ragatz, a senior at Imlay City High School, worked on her house and competed last year, but ran out of time with her team. "It's been fun and it went a lot smoother than last year. We started last week and it's taken a week," she said and explained the slivered almond shingles were the hardest to apply. Her house included licorice on the chimney, a gingerbread sled, ice-cream cones with frosting for pine trees, and a gumdrop barber pole.

Justin Ruiz, an Imlay City senior, worked with Zack Taylor of Almont High School. The pair showed off their winter castle that's complete with a bridge connecting two towers.

"This took four days," Ruiz said and added the experience brought memories of making gingerbread houses with his grandmother. "The main feature is our bridge with the Santa and snowman. The presents are from Starbursts candy. The stream is from melted sugar and blue icing."

The houses will be judged on craftsmanship, neatness, originality, level of difficulty, and level of details. Gold, silver, and bronze medals will be awarded along with honors for best of show and judge's special award.

Houses will be delivered to English Gardens, 44850 Garfield Road in Clinton Township for competition featuring a 2 p.m. award ceremony Saturday. Silent bidding and the gingerbread house display will end at 4 p.m. Sunday.

Steinborn's culinary arts program usually includes about 48 high school juniors and seniors annually from such Lapeer County schools as Almont, Dryden, Imlay City, Lapeer East, Lapeer West and North Branch.

Jennifer Decker can be reached at (810) 664-0811, Ext. 8125 or jennifer.decker@lapeergroup.com.