Students from Moanalua High School need Hawaii’s help to win a national sneaker design contest. (Courtesy photo)
BY JERMEL-LYNN QUILLOPO / Special to the Star-Advertiser
The “Vans Custom Culture Contest” is in it’s fourth year and was created to inspire thousands of high school students across the U.S. through art. In return of their creativity, the shoe company awards a winning school with a monetary award to help improve their art program, along with pride.
The first 1,500 high schools that registered were given four pairs Van’s shoes (106, Sk8-Hi, Slip On and Authentic). The schools had to design each pair of shoe with the following themes: Action sports (only boards and bike sports), music, art, and local flavor (inspired by community surroundings).
Vans narrowed down the selections and chose 50 high schools semi-finalists, including Oahu’s Moanalua High School. The MoHS team has 10 students (Sun Lee, Cayli Hirata, Troy Souza, Analise Austin, Dylan White, Jonathan Rosen, Jody Yafuso, Jordie Guasch, Erin Voss and Rayond Feliciano) and are lead by art teacher Jeff Fuijimoto. Fujimoto said he has helped students enter the contest since it started in 2010 because it gives his students opportunities to create lifetime memories while helping them become better artists.
The shoes entered in the competition by Moanalua High School students. (Courtesy photo)
“With this contest, art gives them a means and allows them to meet new people from across the nation, helps broaden their horizons,” said Fujimoto. “(It’s) something that some of them may not have the opportunity to do.”
Students say the hardest shoe they had to design was Vans’ Sk8-Hi shoe. However, they said it also allowed all of them to contribute to the design. Since Vans gave the contest mandatory themes, the students decided to tie all of the shoes together with an overall theme.
During their brainstorming session, all of them had a feeling of clarity when they decided to surround the shoes around the word “circus.”
“I think that when we all figured out that we were going to do circus, we all jumped on board because a circus theme is sort of universal,” said Jordie Guasch.
Since many students make art for themselves, the Vans contest challenged them to work efficiently as a team. They admitted that working in a team helped them become better communicators and helped them to manager their time better. Not only did they learn more about each other but they learned more about their capabilities as artists.
“I became a better painter because of this experience and because of my classmates,” said Sun Lee. “I gained confidence in painting and to create art for me.”
Fellow classmate Dylan White said throughout this process he learned art does not have reaffirmation from others in regards to his techniques, but to use art as a tool to express what he envisions.
The kids said participating in this competition will allow them to improve Moanalua’s High School art program, a program that helped them in more ways than one. The group also agreed when Analise Austin said future generations of kids at Moanalua will benefit from what they’ve been able to achieve.
Fujimoto said he has always taught his students to use art as a way of expression, to leave all of their drama and troubles and to use the art room as a place of serenity and relaxation. The students said with Fujimoto’s guidance they have learned life lessons.
“Mr. Fujimoto has taught me to never ignore detail, that we can’t leave any stone unturned…that there is a common and bigger goal,” said Guasch.
The top five finalists are determined by online voting and will be able to travel to New York City for a final event. The winning school will receive a $50,000 grand prize for their art program, while other schools will receive $4,000 worth of prizes. Vans’ partner, Journeys, will also give away a $10,000 prize to the school with the best locally designed shoe.
Another Vans’ partner national youth smoking prevention campaign, Truth, is offering a trip for four to New York along with $10,000 for their art program. Truth’s challenge is customize a skateboard deck with a design inspired by the ugly facts of smoking.
Moanalua needs that extra aloha to help them push through the second place spot within the Southwest region to make it to New York. Voting ends at 6 p.m. May 13. Vans only allows one vote per IP address (meaning one vote per internet connection). Click here to vote.
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Jermel-Lynn Quillopo is a multi-faceted, energetic individual with experience in both print and broadcast journalism. “Social Encore” aims to tell diverse stories about Hawaii’s food, events and people; share your tips with Jermel via email or follow her on Twitter.