After working on the shoes for over a month, the Art Department sent in their submissions on Monday for the Vans Custom Culture Contest.

“It’s great,” sophomore Tommy Torres said. “It gives us an opportunity to create and design for big companies.”

For the competition, art students customized four pairs of blank Vans according to the themes of Art, Music, Action Sports and Local Flavor. The contestants have the possibility of winning up to $50,000 for their school’s Art Department and having their designs sold in retail stores.

“This annual program is great,” Art Teacher Dallas Williams said. “It gives students from all over the country a chance to express themselves on a surface that is part of their popular culture, Vans.”

The upper level art classes were asked to design ideas for two of the four themes. Four students were selected: senior Elijah Tatum, junior Sapphire Munguia, sophomore Michael Ontiveros and Torres.

“We, as a department, choose the best designs per category and had those students paint (or create) them,” Williams said.

Ontiveros’ design of the Dallas skyline, landmarks such as the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and Reunion Ball were selected for the Local Flavor theme.

“I was happy and excited,” he said. “I’d like to get into Architecture and Interior Design.”

Torres used acrylic paint for his Action Sports-themed shoes.

“After school, I usually longboard with friends, so that’s how I came to the design,” he said. “I wanted to give it a more beachy feel, so I (related) it to California.”

Williams said she would wear the shoes her students’ designed.

“I believe that my students put their heart and soul into their work,” she said. “That makes all of their work worthy of wearing.”

Though designing the shoe was a stressful process, Torres said in the long run it paid off.

“I could have done a little bit better, but I’m happy with the way it came out,” he said.

The top five finalists, by internal and public vote, will be notified on May 12.

Williams said, “It is a great honor just to be chosen to design the shoes, let alone to have the public choose one of your designs from the ones submitted from all over the country.”