
On December 6, 2024, Georgetown students gathered in the Murray Room on Lauinger Library’s fifth floor to form teams working together to build the best gingerbread house. But this holiday competition had a twist: each house would be judged not just on looks but how it fared against a simulated earthquake.
The annual Extreme Gingerbread House Challenge saw faculty and staff judging the students’ work, noting each edible fortress’ aesthetics and creativity before placing them on a shake machine. Competitors watched as their creations withstood slow swaying that steadily grew into violent mechanical shudders, often reducing gingerbread walls to rubble.
Nevertheless, each participant left with a smile; some glad to have won a prize and others content to munch on their delicious debris.






