SCAD graduate Sydnie Wainland shares the importance of connecting with professors

Written by Kaitlynne Rainne, Graphic by District Staff, Photographs courtesy of Sydnie Wainland “

It was pretty rocky but not as bad as I thought,” said SCAD graduate Sydnie Wainland, SCAD Graduate, B.F.A. jewelry 2020.

In this week’s edition of “Alumni Advice,” I sat down with Wainland to talk about how the past year has been for her and what advice she would give to current SCAD students. Amongst all she shared, a common theme was present: befriend and form good relationships with your major professors. It really does come in handy.

Wainland acknowledges that the advice may seem ‘cheesy’ to some, but it was through the connections she formed with her professors that she was able to achieve the success she has with her jewelry career.

Before the chaos of COVID-19, the dean of the jewelry department recommended Wainland and one of her classmates for an internship with Tiffany & CO. to be a part of their design team in New York City. But when the pandemic hit, that plan went south. “The thing is, despite that, if I had not built the relationship with the dean and worked to build that network, the opportunity would not have come around in the first place,” Wainland said.

“If I were to describe graduating to post-grad, it’s been very chaotic. It all kind of blew up,” Wainland said with a laugh. To her relief, she managed to finish her senior collection. By that point, most students had moved back home and classes went virtual, so the senior showcase in its normal state was unfortunately canceled.

Wainland said that her peers, or “FAHM-ily,” were very supportive throughout their SCAD career and still are. “It was a sad reality, but then our ‘FAHM-ily’ did a virtual show within the department, which was such a great gesture,” Wainland said. “Our senior group chat is still active and we all check-in with each other regularly.”

As for her journey at the beginning of the pandemic, Wainland went home for seven weeks with her family in New Jersey. During that time, she was working with her family on coming back to Savannah. Wainland described the move back as one of the best decisions she had made. “It’s been an accepting community in Savannah for artists and creatives which was one of the reasons why I wanted to come back. I also fell in love with life here. Savannah is a small city but there’s so much going on all the time,” Wainland said.

Coming back to Savannah, she got a job at the J.W. Marriot and was soon contacted by a gallery to sell her pieces. Since then, she’s experienced a lot of success with her jewelry career and has even gotten the chance to have her own studio space.

“I had a professor reach out to me with a studio space offer and while it’s in a garage space, I figured why not. A lot of companies start there so I told myself that I’d build my mini-empire out of this garage space,” Wainland said.

Even in the midst of her career success, Wainland shared that it hasn’t been an easy ride. “A lot of ups and downs and a lot of growth. With my jewelry career, it has been an amazing journey. I’m living in a community that is accepting of artists and to me, that’s a win,” Wainland said.

She thanked her professors for their dedication to her success while she was a student and urged current students to reach out to their professors. All in all, would she take anything back? Wainland said no. Her experience at SCAD was great. Her classes and endeavors were fruitful and it was a time when she found her life-long friends and a place she feels at home.

“I know. It’s cheesy, but the resources you have through your professors are life-long and the support is phenomenal which I’m grateful for and am happy I got to experience. Don’t take that for granted.” Wainland said.