Budding artists, musicians, dancers and stage actors from Lauderdale County School District’s four campuses put their talents on display Tuesday as the district held its Holiday Showcase at The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience.

 

The event featured both students and teachers in the district who showed off their skills in singing, guitar, piano and more.

 

LCSD Communication’s Director Andrea Williams said the Holiday Showcase was also held to announce the winner of a shoe design contest held in partnership with local shoe manufacturer Shloop. Students from each campus have been working on their designs all semester, she said, with the top team from each campus presenting their work to a panel of judges last week.

 

Williams said each of the four designs brought something unique to the table, and students did not make it easy for judges to select a winner.

 

“Guys, they had a tough time,” Williams said. “I understand it was very, very close.”

 

Northeast Lauderdale’s team, consisting of Jackson Delaughter, Allie Dean, Andy Pulido and Chemiyah Denman, took home the top honors with their design for a new type of lighter, more comfortable work boot.

 

The team’s boot intrigued judges for its use of ooblek, a non-newtonian fluid that acts as a solid material when sudden force is applied. The oobleck, along with recycled kevlar, are intended to replace the heavy steel toe boots required in many blue collar professions.

 

As the winning team, the students will see their design come to life with Shloop agreeing to produce a working prototype of the shoe, Williams said.

 

Rob Smith, director of Career and Technical Education for LCSD, said being able to partner with local industry and give students that experience has made the shoe design contest a great project for the district. The project involved career and technical education students from a variety of classes throughout the district, he said, as well as Meridian Community College, local businesses and more.

 

“We have students that have come from health science programs, from construction programs, to marketing, business and finance to computer science and many other programs that were involved,” he said. “So we involved all of our students.”

 

The project, Smith said, also involved a lot more than designing a shoe, and all students who participated are walking away with new skills that will help them in the workforce.

 

“Some of the things that industry and business tells us that our students need is teamwork, problem solving, cooperation and critical thinking skills,” he said. “This project that we’ve done with Shloop has done all of those things. So I’m proud to say the students that will be winning tonight and the students that have been participating in this all across our district have gained many of those skills.”

 

Also involved in the project was Theresa Radcliff, program manager for the MS-SHIPS program, a learning initiative focused on connecting students with real-world problems, at MCC. Radcliff said all of the students who took part should be proud of the work they did.

 

“All of our students have done some great work, and it was really fun to get to introduce them to one of our newest manufacturers in Meridian, if not the newest, and to see something new being built and the excitement of them bringing new industry to our community, what it can do for us as a community,” she said. “At MCC, we’re always glad to work with our high schools. We’re always glad to see something new.”