Secaucus High Art Students Decorate Sneakers With Pigs, Snakes

SECAUCUS, NJ — Check out these Vans sneakers designed by some local Secaucus High School students!

The Secaucus High School Art Club was just informed they are one of 50 finalists nationwide in the Vans High School Custom Culture contest, a national high school competition using blank Vans shoes to be customized around specific themes, including one theme of "hometown pride."

Our local students decorated the shoes with pigs, to represent Secaucus' rich heritage as a pig farming town, and also black snakes, a nod to the marshy Meadowlands where we live.

The name Secaucus is derived from the Native American Algonquian word meaning "place of snakes." ("Sikakes")

The students in the Secaucus High Art Club are seniors Emily Torres, Amy Torres and Kirsty Portillo, juniors Harveen Jhamatt and Liliana Hopkins, and freshman Destinee Salinas.

"We had the idea to paint pigs on the shoes and add flower sculptures because Secaucus used to be full of pig and flower farms," explained Hopkins. "We added snakes because 'Secaucus' is a derivation of the Algonquin word for 'place of snakes.'"

The second set of shoes they decorated shows the modern-day diversity of Secaucus. The students wanted a theme of "Unity" and they drew diverse faces of all races and ethnicities, and joined them together as one to represent togetherness.

Vans clearly liked it. Secaucus is now a finalist, and the teens could win a $50,000 grand prize. Should the Secaucus kids win that prize, some of the money will also go to the Secaucus High School Art Department.

The next round of judging is done by public vote. Cast your vote here: https://customculture.vans.com/

The Art Club, under the direction of teacher Emily Jimenez, came up with the design ideas collectively, said Allison Cunniff, supervisor of humanities at Secaucus High School.

"We all thought how interesting it was that our suburban town was once a marshland filled with pig farms," said student Jhamatt. "We built on that momentum and decided to feature those very animals on our shoes. To complete the pair, we added details that accentuated and was inspired by the physical appearance of our town, like the flowers that border our streets and major roads."

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