Cache High School makes top 50 in Custom VANS contest

CACHE, OK (TNN) - Out of 500 schools across the nation, Cache High School was selected as one of the top 50 entries in a competition for the chance to win $75,000 for their fine arts program.

It’s the VANS Custom Culture Contest and each school had the opportunity to design and paint two pairs of slip-on, authentic VANS.

“I think they turned out really well we all worked really hard on them," said Makena Callarman, a sophomore at Cache High School. "We each have our own style which makes them very unique.”

Each pair of shoes took on a different theme.

“So, what we were presented with was an idea of local flavor,” said Bryan Kowena, an art teacher at Cache High School.

“We all just put our different ideas together to come up with something that represented our culture of Oklahoma and that represented the refuge and wildlife here,” said Callarman.

“A lot of these students spent a lot of time thinking about the process thinking about the theme itself and they incorporated a lot of things around the area especially the Wichita Mountains and along with the native culture here,” said Kowena.

For the second pair of shoes, the students decided to make a tribute to Natalie Hults, who was tragically killed in a car accident last year.

“When she passed away it was really hard on a lot of us,” said Madeleine Cordray, a senior at Cache High School. "She always used to wear VANS all the time. So, whenever I found out we were doing the VANS competition I thought wow I really need to incorporate her image and her idea onto the shoe.

The shoes will be auctioned off separately online and they will go to the highest bidder. The proceeds from that sale will also go back into the art program at Cache.

“Because of education cuts, the arts is one of the first things to that goes in schools and I don’t want to see that,” said Shanna Mellott, an English Teacher at Cache High School.

Although the winner of Natalie's tribute shoes will have to wait till after graduation to pick them up.

“If there is a student that passes away that is graduating, they set aside a chair. So, we were really hoping that we could leave the shoes by that chair for her,” said Cordray.

The top 50 schools go to online voting, and the top five designs will receive a prize. You can cast your vote beginning April 22 at customculture.vans.com. The school with the most votes receives $75,000 for the art department.

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