A creative young man from Saline who often doodled in his notebook instead of paying attention in class wound up at Nike headquarters in Oregon in late August, the winner of a national shoe-design contest.

Neil Zemba, an 18-year-old sophomore at the University of Michigan, beat out 12,000 contestants to win Nike's Future Sole Contest. He won $5,000 worth of computer equipment, and his shoe design could become an actual shoe on store shelves.

The Future Sole contest gave high school and college students the chance to design an N-7 shoe, a Jordon shoe, or a T-shirt. Zemba's design was for an N-7 shoe, which Nike says is inspired by Native American and Aboriginal cultures.

There were two rounds to the contest. For the first round, Nike picked six designs to put up for vote on its website. Zemba's design, which he said looked "super futuristic" and "like a dragonfly," was one of the two most-voted on designs, so he took part in the next round.

For the second round, Zemba and another college student were given the same rubber sole of an N-7 shoe, and were told to make a new design. But this time, each was paired up with a Nike shoe designer.

Zemba was paired up with Wilson Smith, a senior designer at Nike. Smith designed some of the Nike Jordon shoes, as well as a line of products for Andre Agassi, and has helped in the design of products for Serena Williams and Roger Federer.

Zemba had a month to design the shoe in the second round of the contest, and was able to consult with Smith via phone and e-mail. His second shoe was inspired by the buffalo and the moccasin, Zemba said.

"I essentially tried to make sort of a ... moccasin that looked like it had been made of modern materials," Zemba said.

When Zemba arrived at Nike's headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., he was taken on an extensive tour of the headquarters. He learned how shoes were designed, and he even saw areas that "he couldn't take pictures in."

Zemba also met his mentor, Smith, and talked with him about his design.

Even though Smith is well-respected designer, he was "the coolest guy I've ever met in my life," Zemba said. "He was an amazing mentor and gave great design advice."

Smith helped Zemba with the details of his design, "certain things that I didn't know about the shoe industry that he knew," Zemba said.

When it came time to present, Zemba said "I wasn't nervous until I stepped into that room with all of the people." He estimated he presented to a hundred people.

The Nike designers evaluated both contestants and chose Zemba as the winner.

Although some past winners have had their shoes designed and sold, Zemba doesn't know if he'll see a real-life replica of his shoe design.

Zemba also isn't exactly sure what career path he'd like to choose just yet. He's studying fine arts at U-M. But he said meeting respected designers and touring the facility enticed him to at least think about becoming a shoe designer.

"The biggest thing for me was going there and meeting all of these people and really networking," Zemba said. "It's definitely a once in a lifetime experience for somebody my age."

Tara Cavanaugh is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. To reach the news desk, call 734-623-2530. For more Saline stories, visit our Saline page, www.annarbor.com/news/saline