High Schooler Focuses Senior Project On Well-Worn Shoes

High School Student Turns The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (5/7, Solochek) reports that Land O'Lakes High School senior Ben Hedblom has worn the same pair of black sneakers everyday since ninth grade. "Four years ago, Hedblom made a wager with Spanish teacher Adrian Antonini that he would wear the same shoes through to graduation day. The loser would shave his hair and eyebrows." Hedblom says that "the lessons he has learned from wearing" the now tattered, treadless shoes "propelled him to a perfect score on his senior class project." The project focused "on the psychology behind his effort," namely "the initial perceptions that people had when seeing his ratty old shoes, and how he would persuade them to understand that it's not all about the shoes." Hedblom noted of his four-year shoe experience, "I've learned a lot about self image. You are what you believe you are."