A group of four women huddled over several small wooden boxes, staring intently at the contents of each one. As they murmured amongst themselves, it became evident that they were having trouble making up their minds.

Such is the case for those who judge the annual Chestnut Ridge School’s East Holmes Consumer Science Day, which took place on Thursday, Oct. 27.

“This is never easy,” said Lorene Gregory, one of four judges who had the unbelievable task of trying to come up with the winners in three categories, including My Pyramid Posters for the seventh-graders and the Mini-Quilt and Miniature Dream Bedroom contests for the eighth-grade girls from Chestnut Ridge, Wise and Mt. Hope Elementary Schools. “It seems like the creativity of the girls has really picked up, and the entries are getting better and better.”

The judges poured over explanations that the girls wrote in how they designed their projects, looked at every minute detail that would go unnoticed by others, with the decision to eliminate one from the competition while letting another continue on in the judging coming down to the littlest differences in detail, precision, color and even personal taste.

“It’s hard, I wish we could give them all blue ribbons, because you can see how much work and care went into these projects,” said Donna Young, who joined Gregory, Karen Anderton and Lisa Rudloff as judges. All four are former consumer science teachers, so they know what they need to be looking for in each division.

For the group of judges, the winner of the miniature bedroom contest boiled down to more than just the impressive design of winner Catherine Mullet’s bedroom.

“We were extremely impressed with not only her technique, but with how she explained herself in the process she went through in designing her bedroom,” said Young.

Mullet, from Chestnut Ridge, got past second-place finisher Sue Raber of Wise and Kari Yoder of Mt. Hope, who finished third.

“I loved the decorating aspect of making the bedroom, but I really enjoyed the entire process of putting this together,” said Mullet. “I even liked to do the descriptive part of it. It was all a lot of fun.”

With smaller class numbers this year, the number of entries for the mini-quilt contest was three, although all three entries were top-quality efforts by the eighth-graders.

Mary Sue Raber of Wise took top honors, followed by Katelyn Sue Miller and Eva Miller, both of Chestnut Ridge.

The judges had high praise for all three girls, noting that it was difficult to choose between the mini-quilts.

For the seventh-grade students, the name of the game was posters, and the topic was creating an entry that looked good enough to eat.

Designing posters based on healthy eating on information provided from My Pyramid and My Plate nutrition facts, a large number of students created a wall full of beautiful posters, which the judges had to sift through to pick the best of the best.

For two poster winners, runner-up Saloma Troyer of Chestnut Ridge and Diane Miller of Wise, the alluring bonus in the judge’s eyes was that each had taken the time to color their entire white poster board a different color, making them stand out.

However, winner Samantha Coblentz’ poster was what seventh-grade consumer science teacher Shannon Stutzman said was perhaps the best poster she has seen in her nearly three decades of presenting the poster contest.

“As soon as I saw her entry I thought to myself that it was the winner,” said Stutzman. “Of course, I am not a judge, but they felt the same way. You could tell she put a great deal of thought and care into it.”

The poster, which featured an almost 3-D quality to it, almost didn’t come to fruition, and wouldn’t have at all if Coblentz had her way early on in the project.

“That wasn’t my first idea, but my original plan just didn’t work out so I had to change gears,” said Coblentz, from Wise. “I figured since it was autumn, I’d go with a fall theme, and then it just kind of fell into place.”

For something new this year, Stutzman had the students incorporate Michelle Obama’s new My Plate theme into the posters, and Coblentz turned her wagon wheels into the nutritional plate facts.

The winning entries will now go to Keim Lumber, where they will be showcased for two weeks. From there, the art will return to the respective schools, where they will be on exhibit during parent-teacher conferences, and then they will be taken to Spector’s, where they will be on display after Nov. 14.

For something unique this year, eighth-grade consumer science teacher Diane Morgan asked her students to bring in boxes that their mothers had made in previous years. A total of four miniature bedroom boxes were brought in, including a 1989 model by Esther Yoder, a 1988 version from Elsie Weaver, a 1986 bedroom from Dorothy Miller and the oldest one was brought in by Esther Shetler, who still has her bedroom from her days as an eighth-grader in 1976.

“I think it goes to show you how important these projects are for the girls, when they still have them after all of those years,” said Morgan. “This is really a fun project that lets them think outside the box. It was kind of fun to ask the kids to bring in their parents’ bedrooms, because some of them were actually embarrassed. It really looked and felt like the girls did a great job this year, in using their creativity and design skills.”