Wrangell students’ shoe designs win $15K for their school, with a chance to win more

Vans shoes designed and painted by Wrangell High School art students on display in the front window of a downtown Wrangell business. have won at least $15,000 for the school’s art program and have a chance to win more than triple that.

Junior Paige Baggen led the group of students that entered this year’s Vans Custom Culture Contest, where high schools design shoes to represent hometown pride and the legacy of one of the Vans founders.The endeavor has paid off. Wrangell’s shoes made it into the first group of 250 competing schools, then made the top 50, and — after a public vote — made the top 5 designs in the United States.

The two pairs of shoes — one pair with Wrangell sunset scenes, another with Lingít-inspired formline art, beading, marten fur and buttons — are proudly displayed in the window of a downtown Wrangell business. The students see Wrangell’s success is an underdog story. Some of the top 50 schools come from communities of hundreds of thousands of people. Generously, Wrangell has about 2,300 people on the whole island.

“This is probably like the most surreal thing that’s ever happened in my life,” she said. “These kinds of things happen to other people, other people go on game shows and when many other people win contests, other people do this. It’s not something that happens to people like us here at Wrangell.” High school senior Sophia Hagelman says one of the best parts of the experience is the opportunity to feel like they’re giving back to the school in a meaningful way.

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