SAN ANTONIO – A group of San Antonio high school students who created custom Vans in a nationwide contest to support their art program have made it to the top five.
Vans on Wednesday announced Edison High School’s custom, San Antonio- and Fiesta-themed pairs of shoes are among the top five finalists, meaning they’re still in the running to win $50,000.
The local students are now competing against four other high schools, including Cedar Hill High School from North Texas, in the 12th annual Vans Custom Culture competition.
More than 1,000 schools entered the competition to win $50,000, which will go to the winner’s art program.
Vans created the program to “inspire and empower high school students to embrace their creativity through art and design and bring attention to diminishing art education budgets,” a news release said.
The prompts for this year? “Head in the Clouds” and “Hometown Pride,” Vans said.
The San Antonio students used iconic Alamo City imagery, like flower crowns, the River Walk, pan dulce and Fiesta colors, for their hometown design.
Rogelio Zamarripa, a junior at the school and the lead artist for the project, told KSAT that his shoes were “inspired by San Antonio.”
Students Maya Lopez and Baymika Wong added that they wanted to add a flair that looked good enough to eat.
“So, one of the things we thought of was pan dulce,” Lopez previously told KSAT. “And so that’s one of our main components here.”
Cedar Hill played on the Dallas skyline, cowboy boots and wildflowers for their customizations.
The finalist will be announced on Thursday.