“Flying back home from this trip my parents could see the sparkle in my eyes, SCAD skyrocketing to the top of my list.” Senior Sydney Chura said on the way home from visiting a college her sophomore year. Little did she know that college is going to be the start of her big plans after high school. The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), located in beautiful Savannah, Ga., turned out to be a perfect fit for her passions, needs, and wants. Chura is talented and passionate about art and soccer, and that college offered her an opportunity to continue doing them both. 

Chura has been playing soccer almost for her whole life;she started playing soccer as sy 4. . Most of her soccer experience took place with Michigan Jaguars, who she has played with for 12 years. Although many people could say that they have played soccer since they were little, Chura can be set apart from most of them. This is because she had been able to maintain a position on the highest level possible team her whole life, which is beneficial to her since she was exposed to many elite college programs all over the country. She has enhanced her skills and style of play to make her a very successful, talented athlete. Many soccer players have skipped around and played all sorts of positions. This mostly happens so coaches can figure out what position is the best fit for the player. For Chura, that is not the case, she has played forward for as long as she can remember. Having so much experience in one singular position helped her develop those skills specifically needed to thrive as an outside forward. 

Some of her biggest accomplishments in her soccer career are she made the Milford High School Varsity soccer team as a freshman, was awarded three Michigan State cup wins (2015-2017), after that her soccer team got a spot in the US Development Academy, which is the very top league for girls’ youth soccer. Milford soccer coach Tommy Hipple said, “ she’s a great player, she worked on and off the field to improve her skills. Was a leading scorer freshman year for the team, and would always stay after practice to get extra training in.” Chura verbally committed to SCAD in February 2020 after being offered a spot on the team, plus she was guaranteed admission to the college and received a scholarship! That same month, Chura made a trip out to Savannah for her official visit. This consisted of having dinner with the head coach, participating in camps and classes, while staying in the dorms with players who were currently on the soccer team. So you may wonder why she chose SCAD? How was it even on her radar? During Chura’s freshman year she first heard of Savannah College of Art & Design when Coach Rebecca Gunn (the coach at SCAD) watched Chura play at a Florida Showcase. Gunn gave Chura’s Father her business card, and it immediately intrigued her. She wanted to remain on their radar, so she sent them an email telling them about herself.. Things just fell into place when she flew down to Savannah for an I.D. camp in February, her sophomore year. Soon enough the excitement of the recruitment process was finalized. She was going to attend SCAD after high school. 

Not only did Chura commit to SCAD for her soccer career, but it also opened up amazing opportunities for her to continue her passion, and develop her skills revolving around art. 

 She has been pursuing her passion for art since she was in elementary school and never stopped. She became interested in art at her grandma’s house in second grade and she began to grow as an artist quickly. . In middle school, she started to be recognized for her work and would stay after school with her teacher which took off her art career exponentially. “This relationship and my growing skills quickly made art my favorite subject, even taking over P.E. the other thing I was good at.” Chura said.

Though Chura had a strong passion for art, she never knew what her intended area of study would be at college. “ I was never the kid who knew what they wanted to do for the rest of their life; with my teammates committing to Universities such as Stanford and Daytona during my freshman and Sophomore years, I felt pressured to compromise on what I wanted to study in order to play at ranked NCAA Division1 soccer programs like them,” Said Chura. She felt the pressure to follow in her teammate’s footsteps, going to colleges that lacked an impressive art program, so she decided to create her own path, Chura will be attending SCAD a month and a half before the rest of the students, giving the soccer team time to adjust to the balance between art and soccer. “This month and a half will really give me time to learn how to manage my time on my own and acclimate to the Savannah lifestyle before school work is piled on top.” Once Chura adjusts to Savannah and begins to manage her time, she is most excited to meet new friends. With SCAD having such a large international population she cannot wait to make close friendships with people from all over the world. “Out of seven girls in my recruiting class of 2025, three international hailings from Portugal, Iceland, and Sweden.” Overall, there are big things to come for her future after graduating from Milford Highschool!