Across the country, high school students are participating in the Vans Custom Culture contest. Developed with the intent for students to showcase their artistic talents, this contest allows students to be creative and earn money for their school.

“Custom Culture is a program we started back in 2010 for the purpose of raising awareness of the importance of art in education while also giving high school students a unique opportunity to express themselves creatively,” said Scott Byrer, manager of Vans Custom Culture.

This contest will give 1,500 schools the chance to win money for their art program from a pool of $50,000. For each school participating in the contest, Vans will send four pairs of blank shoes. The shoes will then be given to the students to transform into something that is their own. Each pair must clearly depict all of the four categories; art, music, action sports and local flavor.

“It’s kind of cool, since Vans is such a huge name and something people identify with, that we can be involved with something like that,” art teacher Jennifer Hamrock said. “It’s different, rather than making a poster, it’s something that is actually useful and can be translated into something real.”

Once the finished shoes have been submitted, fifty schools will be chosen by Vans staff, and then judged by the public in an online vote. The top five chosen by the public will go to the final round in New York City. Four runner-ups will get a prize of $4,000, and the top school will receive $10,000 for best Local Flavor.

Students will combine their talents to transform the bland shoes into masterpieces that could be turned into official Vans designs. Not only does the contest have a potential for money, but it allows students to work together and make the importance of art known. Being able to take place in the contest has enthused both the students and their art teacher.

“I decided to participate in this contest because it sounded like a lot of fun and we get to design our own vans, which is really cool,” sophomore Canyon Campion said.

Working on this contest allows student’s creativity to shine and has sparked excitement. The opportunities this contest brings makes the effort worthwhile.

“The student’s passion for art gets me excited. Their enthusiasm makes me more motivated,” Hamrock said. “It’s easy to go through the motions but when other people are involved it makes it more fun than usual.”

With the prize money, the FFHS art program can continue to thrive. The school would be able to purchase the materials needed to make the art program more efficient and successful.

“With the money we could buy supplies so we have more than enough. We would be able to do different projects and experiment with new things,” Hamrock said.

Vans created this contest with the hopes that students would become excited and motivated about art. Being able to donate money to schools in need is something they are very proud of and hope to continue doing.

Said Byrer, “Through this program we’ve been able to put thousands of dollars back into the hands of needy high school art programs throughout the United States, something Vans as a brand is immensely proud of.”

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