MCC Ice Carvers Take Fourth at International Competition

With its recent fourth place win at the BP World Ice Art Championship in Alaska, Macomb Community College has made its mark on the international ice carving stage.

Jeff Wolf, MCC culinary professor, and student Sean Ess, ventured to Fairbanks, AK in February for the chance to compete against 70 carving teams hailing from 17 countries.

“This competition is for professionals, and only one of the two-people teams included a student–from a college in Oregon," Wolf, a Shelby Township resident, said in a release. "Some people walked by us the first couple of days and were shaking their heads and asking ‘what are they doing here?’ We were truly the underdogs. But I knew Sean’s abilities were strong, and I knew we would work well together.”

During the course of the 60-hour competition, the pair logged 46 hours of work to create "Horsin’ Around." Carved out of a 7,200-pound block of ice, the sculpture earned Wolf and Ess fourth place in the abstract category.

Although fellow carvers expressed doubt in the abilities of the MCC team, Wolf said this opinion was quickly turned around.

“By the beginning of the third day, they were dropping their jaws,” Wolf said. “Macomb had a great presence there. I think they are expecting us to come back next year.”

The competition, hosted by Ice Alaska, is the largest and most widely followed in the world. 

“It was an awesome experience to meet people from all these different cultures,” Ess, also of Shelby Township, said in a release. “And it was nice to come home and see how excited friends and family were. They had been following it on the Internet.”