“Mr. Oldham showed me a side to art that I really didn’t know existed,” said Velez, a junior at Carter High School in Grand Prairie who wants to design video games and comics after college. “I made a lamp out of an old bicycle and tractor brakes.”

Dallas Elevators Powered by Coca-Cola participants Joseph Velez and Bianca Williams got the chance of a lifetime: a job shadowing experience with Brad Oldham in the artist’s Dallas workshop. The students were each tasked with making functional art from recyclables and found objects, alongside the renowned designer.

“My experience is one that I will remember for many years,” said Williams, a senior at Irma Rangel Academy in Dallas, whose dream is to study art at Howard University. “He uses things that many consider trash and recreates them into beautiful and interesting works of art. I left Brad Oldham’s studio with more self awareness of how art can truly connect us all, and how it can come in the simple form of a light.”

Williams chose to create a floor lamp using a vintage sewing mannequin as the base, an old tin star as an accent, and a plastic apple cut in half with commercial metal grate inserted in the middle to house the light. Williams added an airy, whimsical motif on the green apple using permanent markers.

“The kids’ talents were amazing and refreshing,” said Oldham. “Every time you meet a new artist, you see a new way to look at the world. What Bianca and Joseph left me with was an entirely new perspective. I’m glad they chose to spend the afternoon with me.”

Oldham, whose own custom art and design products have been featured on Good Morning America, and in Architectural Digest, Better Homes & Gardens and more, helped the students by welding, sawing, and installing electrical wiring in each of their lamps.

"I was exhausted, but happy-exhausted,” Oldham said of the frenzied, two-hour “design challenge” he offered Williams and Velez, with the intent of motivating them as artists.

The Dallas Elevators Powered by Coca-Cola is a program that brings extra enrichment and opportunities to a select group of high school juniors and seniors who are members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas. The mission of the program is to encourage students to elevate their skills in the classroom, at home, in extra-curricular activities, and wherever their interests lie. Velez is a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Dallas at Grand Prairie, while Williams is a member of the Boys & Girls Club at East Dallas.

“I am definitely excited about majoring in art in college,” said Velez, “because, through my job shadow experience, my horizons have just gotten brighter.”

“These kids deserve to be excited about their future,” said Ben Lawson, director of Bottler Sales & Marketing with Coca-Cola of North America. “We encourage the community to get involved in offering experiences. It takes so little time -- often as little as two or three hours -- but it can significantly impact a teen’s future. In fact, we’ve found it’s often as rewarding for the business professional as it is for the student that participates.”

Companies interested in offering one-time experiences for young people in the Dallas Elevators Powered by Coca-Cola program should email carolyn@aardvarktx.com with “Dallas Elevators” in the subject line. Interested high school students should check with the nearest Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas, which includes clubs in Dallas, Mesquite, Richardson, Coppell and Grand Prairie.

More information is available at www.dallaselevators.com.