Mason High Senior’s Design Makes its Debut in Giant Food Stores

For Worachet Boon Sakprayoonpong, a senior, seeing his design on a reusable grocery bag is overwhelming.

Five months since announcing the winner of the It’s Academic 50th anniversary reusable bag contest, Giant Food stores began selling Sakprayoonpong’s graphic designed bags at the Giant Food store in Falls Church, Wednesday.

The event was kicked off with cake and ice cream honoring the winner.

“Usually when you see a shopping bag, you think of it filled with tomatoes, oranges, … but when we see these bags, we see that, we also see it being filled with the hopes and dreams and the efforts of thousands of students who appeared on It’s Academic over the years,” said Susan Altman, It’s Academic producer. “It is a very good feeling that so many kids work so hard and put so much effort into what they do.”

Giant Foods received more than 250 entries from high school students around Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Delaware, said Jamie Miller, Giant Food public and community relations manager.

The requirements for the competition were to use the Giant Food’s logo colors and prominently display the It’s Academic 50th anniversary in the design, Miller said.

The 25,000 reusable bags designed by Sakprayoonpong are now available in 175 Giant Food stores, Miller said.

Sakprayoonpong said he learned of the competition from his art teacher and was shocked with he learned that he won from his principal about five months after he submitted his entry.

“I was sitting in my history class when the principal just came up to me and told me he had a big surprise and at the end of the day, I was walking out with a big check,” Sakprayoonpong said. “It had been three or five months after I entered that I had kind of forgotten about it.”

He also received $1,500 as the winner. He said while he may want to spend all that money on junk food and games, he plans on using that money to go toward his college fund.

Inspired by the comic books, Sakprayoonpong said he thinks his involvement in the school band, which makes routine trips to watch It’s Academic in the studio, really helped in creating his design.

“It is certainly a unique way to start the summer,” Sakprayoonpong said of the release of his reusable bag graphic design.

Sakprayoonpong hopes to study graphic design or another art specialty when he attends college.