McCracken County High School has been named one of five finalists in a national competition that could net the school $50,000 for its art program.
Shoe company Vans asked high school students around the country to customize four pairs of white tennis shoes around four themes – art, music, action sports and local flavor. The shoes designed by MCHS students won the southeast region. MCHS art teacher Shand Stamper says the process of designing the "local flavor" shoe was the cornerstone of all their submitted designs.
“We talked about the different assets of the community," Stamper said. "We talked about the river, we talked about the quilt museum, we talked about the artist relocation program, we talked about the music.”
Stamper said the school’s art program is already well-funded, but she's thinking of ways the school could utilize the prize money.
“I would love to use the money to sponsor scholarships for students," Stamper said. "If we got $50,000, I mean, that’s just a dream. I was thinking today, ‘Gosh, if we won that, I would have to sit on it for a while so I made a really smart decision’.”
Stamper said she would also like to install a gallery space for students’ artwork that students would curate themselves - a goal the school is working toward with or without the prize money.
Fifteen students and three chaperones will be flown to New York in June for the grand prize giveaway. As a finalist, McCracken is guaranteed a $4,000 runner-up prize.
More than 5,000 schools nationwide entered the competition.
