Vans
Students compete for VansBY KEELEY GAY ON MAY 16, 2014
Rather than following the normal curriculum this year, graphic design teacher Robert Puckett has decided to take a different spin on the way he teaches his Graphic design classes. The projects he has chosen for this year have been unique and enjoyable for the students.
One of the recent projects the graphic design classes completed involved creating a design for a pair of Vans. The students did this as a part of the Vans Custom Culture Shoe Contest. This national competition invites high school students to design their own pair of Vans and submit them for a chance to win money for their school. “Everybody in the class took templates and designed a design for two different styles of shoes,” Puckett said. “Then we voted on which designs we felt were the best to represent our school.” There were four different themes in this year’s Vans Custom Culture Contest: music, local flavor, board sports and art. “We picked a winner for each of the four categories,” Puckett said. All of the graphic design classes came together and voted on the design they thought would look the best for each individual theme. “Whoever’s design had the most votes got to have a pair of shoes to paint,” junior Stewart Fussell said. “After you paint the shoes, you take pictures of them and send them to the Vans website.” Only one pair of shoes was provided for each winning design, so the students had to be careful not to make any mistakes while painting their pair of shoes. Junior Teon Adkinson was able to complete his pair of shoes by using a step-by-step process. “First I drew [the design] with pencil, and then I colored it in with a sharpie and painted it so I wouldn't make any mistakes,” Adkinson said. The ultimate winner out of the 50 finalists will receive $50,000 in prize money for their school’s graphic design program. Puckett and his students would both benefit from the prize money if they were to win next year. “If we won, Puckett would probably invest in some new computers and maybe a 3D printer,” Fussell said. “We might even be able to go on some cool field trips.” Although the contestants from Rose did not win the contest this year, they are hoping to do better in next year’s competition. Adkinson and Fussell both plan on entering the contest again next year. “I wish we could have won as a school,” Adkinson said. Puckett and his students are hoping to progress further in the contest next year. This was the first year Rose has competed in the competition, but Puckett has decided that he wants to continue to participate in the Vans Custom Culture contest for many years to come. “I’d never done the Vans Competition before,” Puckett said. “I’ll probably do it every year from now on.” In addition to the Vans Competition, Puckett hopes to find more contests that his students can participate in. “Since we’re moving into digital media next year, I’ll probably be looking for video and audio web design competitions in opposed to mostly print,” Puckett said. Puckett wants to make students more interested in the graphics design program at Rose. The students in the graphic design classes this year have enjoyed the new and different projects that they have done. Puckett wants to continue to bring new ideas such as the Vans Custom Culture Competition to Rose and continue to keep things interesting in his classes. HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
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