It was a sweet feat. During the past two months, students in Penta Career Center’s Culinary Arts program have been hard at work creating a miniature village made of gingerbread – 40 houses, cottages, cabins and townhomes painstakingly adorned with countless pieces of licorice, frosted cereal (which makes a great roof shingle – who knew?), gum drops,  peppermints, and other embellishments. 

As impressive as their works are, they are dwarfed, literally, by a six-foot tall gingerbread house the students worked on together, under the supervision of Chef Jim Rhegness, Culinary Arts instructor and Joy Neiderman, instructional aide.

The giant Victorian-style structure was constructed of 160 pounds of royal icing; more than 300, three-quarter pound gingerbread bricks and shingles; 60 pounds of homemade hard candy; and 10 boxes of corn flakes cereal for the wreaths.

To help make the structure sturdy, juniors in Penta’s Construction Carpentry program created a framework for the house using lightweight aluminum framing materials, Rhegness said.

“The Welding students created a giant cookie cutter for the gingerbread house bricks, so we didn’t have to cut each individual piece,” he added.

In addition, students in the Automotive Collision Repair program painted a clear glaze over the hard candy pieces

The students and staff were inspired to tackle the massive project after seeing a photograph of a 16-foot gingerbread house at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa in Florida.

“I’m very proud of the students,” Rhegness said. “The project involved a lot of tedious work but it’s a fun way to learn and practice many core skills.”

The giant gingerbread house and the smaller houses were moved to the Erie Street Market for the Kris Kringle Village event being held Saturday, Nov. 27. They will then be on display at Imagination Station in Toledo, Rhegness said.

Among the Culinary Arts students who worked on the gingerbread creations were Daniel Garrett  and Matthew Wohlfeil (Woodmore); Megan Hess and Trisha Williford (Northwood); Jennalee Niefer and Gabrielle Stover (Genoa);

Tiffany Sting and Taylor Hamilton (Lake); Thomas Jividen (Oak Harbor) and Tyler Vermilyea (Eastwood).

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