What does it take to make a gingerbread house?

Try the right mix of ingredients, a little patience and some creativity.

Weston Ranch High students in Jeannine Wayman’s Family & Consumer Science classes discovered just that Wednesday at her second annual Ginger Bread Show Down.

“Some of the houses were exquisite while others were not as exquisite,” said teacher Chris Bauer.

He along with Kathy Ruble – she’s the Director of Career and Technical Education / Science Technology Engineering Math for Manteca Unified – Athletic Director Brett Lewis, teacher Deborah Chavez and MUSD Construction / Energy Technician Mike Lehr served as the judges for the ginger bread event.

Students were also judged on their ginger bread man cookies.

“Some were OK. Some were phenomenal. Some were extra crispy,” Bauer said.

The Family & Consumer Science students worked together as teams on this project, which, Wayman said, also doubled as the final for the CTE course.

The group of Avaina Boatman, Joceline Murillo, Adriana Rodriguez, Gerardo Roman and Karina Vazquez captured first place for their ginger bread house.

“The tough part was trying to keep the structure from toppling over,” said Roman on putting together the ginger bread house.

His team known as ‘Kitchen No. 5’ added the chocolate kisses to the décor. Wayman provided each of her classes – the Ginger Bread Show Down took place in all three of her CTE classes – with three different candies.

The process began last Friday by the making of the dough and cutting out the pieces. On Monday, students constructed their ginger bread houses, decorating them the following day, according to Wayman.

“It’s not that easy since the dough can come out too soft to use,” she said.

The group of Kitchen No. 1 took third place for the ginger bread house and first place for the cookies.

“We didn’t even taste the cookies (we made),” said Anthony Rico, who was part of the team consisting of Joseph Michel, Gillson Aniel, and Andrew Torres.