VANS CELEBRATES GRAND PRIZE WINNER AND RUNNER UP FINALISTS IN HIGH SCHOOL CUSTOM CULTURE COMPETITION

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May 23, 2022, 11:25 ET

Moanalua High School has won $50,000 for their high school's art program in the 13th annual Vans High School Custom Culture competition

COSTA MESA, Calif., May 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vans is thrilled to announce Moanalua High School as the winner of the 13th annual Vans Custom Culture competition and honoree of $50,000 for their school's art program. The remaining four finalists, Central High School, Avella Jr. Sr. High School, Sisters High School and Wrangell High School will also receive limited-edition Vans gifts and $15,000 to support their high school art programs.

Moanalua High School as the winner of the 13th annual Vans Custom Culture competition

New this year, each of the top five schools will receive an artist mentorship lesson from one of Vans' art ambassadors: Tony Whlgn, Sydney G. James, Jay Howell, Todd Francis, Mich Miller, Kelly Breez, Camilo Medina, Noah Humes, O.J. Hays, Tony Whlgn, Sara Yukiko Mon, and David Heo.

To celebrate this incredible moment, students at Moanalua High School received a surprise party on their high school campus, including a special guest appearance from singer-songwriter Bishop Briggs to celebrate at the school's campus.

"Moanalua's graduation is this Friday, May 20. Knowing that I ended my senior year with that kind of thing… I'm really happy and I wanted to cry happy tears," said Jaidalyn Kamaunu, a senior at Moanalua. "We worked nearly every single day after school for about one to two hours a day. There were days on the weekends, we would dedicate a whole entire seven-hour workday just to work on the shoes," noted another Moanalua student, 11^th grader Dianne Cabico.

Thank you to our partners for empowering this competition, including Yoobi, Vans' exclusive art supplies partner who provided gift cards to all the participating schools for them to purchase much-needed art supplies, Scholarship America for community-based scholarship programs, and Journeys, who awarded all participating students a gift card to their store in recognition of their accomplishments.

Vans Custom Culture has reached hundreds of thousands of students, continuing to show how impactful art programs are by donating over $1,110,000 USD back to high school art programs to date. Please visit Vans Custom Culture to learn how to register your school next year or follow us on social at @VansCustomCulture for design inspiration and how-to lessons from Vans art ambassadors.

About Vans

Vans^®, a VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC) brand, is the original action sports footwear, apparel and accessories brand. Vans^® authentic collections are sold in 97 countries through a network of subsidiaries, distributors and international offices. Vans^® has over 2,000 retail locations globally including owned, concession and partnership doors. The Vans^® brand promotes creative self-expression in youth culture across action sports, art, music and street culture and delivers progressive platforms such as Vans Checkerboard Day, Vans Park Series, Vans Triple Crown of Surfing^®, Vans Custom Culture, and Vans' cultural hub and international music venue, House of Vans.