An IDSA student member is part of the winning team in the 2017 Pensole Footwear Design Academy‘s Fueling the Future of Footwear competition in collaboration with Foot Locker and asicsTIGER in Portland, OR. Blake Scordino, S/IDSA, (pictured on the right) was the first student from Auburn University—and one of only 18 students worldwide—accepted to take part in the academy and the competition. “I was honored to have been chosen because I know thousands and thousands entered for this course and only 18 are selected,” he says. “I actually jumped out of my chair and ran through my apartment, and then had a team huddle with the roommates.”
For three weeks, experts delivered presentations and spent one-on-one time with the students, teaching them about the product creation process across footwear design, materials and marketing. Six teams of three students each competed for a $12,000 award. See the video submission on Scordino’s team’s winning design, entitled “Mood,” which will be sold in Foot Locker stores. Also on his team: Matthew Franklin of Norwich, NY and Razma Hassani of The Netherlands.
Scordino credits Auburn with helping him discover and cultivate his passion for design. He says he didn’t even discover footwear design until he joined Auburn’s ID program, where he was inspired by the head of the School of Industrial and Graphic Design, Clark Lundell, IDSA; and Associate Professors Jerrod Windham, IDSA, and Chris Arnold. Because he worked toward his dream and took a leap of faith. Scordino says everyday, he’s doing what he loves.
“Blake serves as the perfect example of a student who is focused on a specific industry and doing the most he can outside the classroom to further his goals,” Windham tells IDSA.
Read more in Auburn University SIGD News.