During the month of December, there is a tradition where the different faculty departments compete against each other. They are competing to see which department can create the best gingerbread house. The students then vote on which department they believe has the best gingerbread house. The students did not know which gingerbread house belonged to which department. Faculty members, Maddie Chastain, Kelsie Coccia, and Jordan West share their sides of the story from different departments of the school. West shares how she came up with the idea of this competition.
“I always really loved making gingerbread houses with my family growing up, and it is something fun to do with students. My first year here I thought that it would be cool to bring that tradition to Darlington and to have the students involved,” West said. “It’s really great to have the students vote and the faculty do the work. That is kind of where the idea came from.”
This event is something that the departments truly look forward to. West then continues to talk about how this tradition brings the community together.
“I think the most obvious answer is because people love competition and so they want to work hard to win the competition, even though there is no prize, just bragging rights. They want to win and beat the other departments, but it still brings people together and it’s something to just work together on and collaborate,” West said. “Everyone can bring something different to the table, like for our gingerbread house, we did Swift and Finch, and I am not great at the big picture but better at the smaller details. So some of the people on my team were better at designing the structure and liked the big part of it and I was like, what if I made little coffee mugs out of gum drops. Everyone gets to contribute something to their team and that helps us be more together as a team.”
Chastain was deeply affectionate about her department’s gingerbread house. She shared the theme of her house and what qualities of their house should make it the winning house.
“We made the Berry Swift and Finch gingerbread house, based off of the Swift and Finch coffee shop in downtown. I love Swift and Finch and it was just so cute, we got really creative with it,” Chastain said. “So winter-y and a fun interpretation of a store, but I really think we should win because of the Mr. Pender gingerbread man-figurine on the back of our house. We did this because he pretty much lives in Swift and Finch and I think that was a very fun touch.”
There are many aspects of this tradition, but Coccia is asked what she believes the best part of this event is.
“I think the best part of this tradition is the friendly competition that we have amongst ourselves as adults. That the students get to vote on it and it’s not us,” Coccia said. “I think it is hilarious too that we are not supposed to tell you guys which one is ours and in any way t-up which one is which departments. Everyone was like, oh, it will just be a popularity contest, but it still is.”