Students’ model villages have holiday spirit

Students at InTec in Spokane Valley decided to build gingerbread villages as a fun pre-Christmas project that would let them use a variety of skills they’ve picked up over the year.

They also made another important decision.

“We used cardboard instead of gingerbread,” said Zack Dunn, 15, “because if we had used gingerbread the houses would be gone.”

One village was modeled after “Lord of the Rings,” including Gandolf’s Cottage.

“The most difficult part was to make the houses look the same,” said Grant Ohlstrom, 16.

The most unusual of the three villages was modeled after Tim Burton’s animated classic, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Chase Maden, 16, was part of the group that designed that village, which includes the tall slightly toppling house that’s home to the movie’s main protagonist, Jack Skellington.

“All our designs came from the movie, but this one was really hard to do,” Maden said. “It kept falling over.”

Student teams used Play-Doh, glue, cardboard and traditional gingerbread candy decorations, like Red Hots and candy canes – and lots and lots of coconut flakes, which were colored green and used to make lawns.

The last student-built village was a model of Dr. Seuss’ Whoville, complete with the Grinch’s mountain.

Andrew Strunk, 18, said his team also used papier mache and melted Jolly Ranchers to make glass for windows.

InTec is a branch of East Valley High School that uses project-based learning. The school is located near the Spokane Industrial Park, just off Sullivan Road and has about 64 students in grades 9 through 11.

InTec teacher Nicole Talbert said the teachers decided to one-up the students and surprise them with a teacher-built gingerbread Wild West city.

“We had great fun building that, too,” Talbert said.

The gingerbread projects are on display at InTec during normal operating hours until Dec. 22 when the school closes for winter break.