Central High School was notified in February of its selection to be one of 250 schools in the United States to participate in the Vans Custom Culture High School Design Competition. For 13 years this contest has challenged students to think creatively and decorate Vans shoes to fit specific themes.
This year, Vans sent two pairs of plain white shoes to students. One pair needs to represent “Hometown Pride.” For this design, Central art students have used needle felting to create the Great Smoky Mountains as well as using clay to sculpt many Knoxville and Fountain City landmarks. The second theme for this year’s contest was to show the legacy of the founder of the Vans Shoe company, who passed away this year.
Central High School students have painted one shoe to represent the founding of the Vans company in the 1960s and the other shoe to represent the growth of the brand today. A team of 20 students representing all grades at Central have worked during art classes, during lunch, and after school to complete the shoe designs. Central submitted its designs for judging last week and should find out soon if they are selected as one of the top 50 designs. Once the top 50 schools are selected, the designs will be presented to the public for online voting to determine the winner of a $50,000 grand prize.