Dimapur, June 3 (MExN): On May 29, one of the most specialized arts and design institutes in the world, the Savannah College of Art & Design in Atlanta in the United States, honored 250 graduates during the college’s fourth commencement ceremony. Among the design institute’s Honors graduates honored in the valediction was an Ao Naga girl from Changki village in India’s north eastern region. Her name and proficiency was particularly cited by SCAD-Atlanta for exemplary academic and leadership achievements.
Changki-born Makensangla Imcha Payne, a brilliant, A-list student of the Atlanta institute, with an incredible record of awards, recognition and “the kind of student you wish you could clone.” This summer Makensangla Imcha will join the fashion house of internationally acclaimed fashion designer and SCAD Style Lab mentor Angel Sanchez (of Sandra Bullock, Eva Longoria, Salma Hayek and Beyoncé fame). Imcha will be Angel Sanchez’s assistant designer for his soon-to-be-launched new line for young and contemporary fashionistas. “Maken Imcha is the kind of student you wish you could clone,” said Professor Sarah Collins, associate chair of the institute’s fashion department in a formal testimonial from the institute. “Not only does she produce innovative work, she also fully understands that the process of creation is in always actively seeking to challenge your self. Every single professor Imcha has had in the department remarks about her creativity and incomparable work ethic.”
Imcha was double-promoted twice during her initial school years, graduating early from high school. She capitalized on that time to travel, educate herself about her people and the local culture, and work with non-governmental organizations, including the Dimapur District HIV/AIDS Awareness Program and the Women’s Professional Network, which promotes the empowerment of women in the Naga society.
In 2004, Imcha was honored with an invitation to be a delegate at the 10-year Anniversary of Women’s Empowerment in New Delhi, India, as the youngest delegate to attend this momentous event.
Accepted for admission in several other world-class schools of fashion after earning a bachelor’s degree from St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi — one of the most prestigious colleges in India — Imcha elected to enroll at SCAD, a university she believed would challenge her artistic sensibilities and academic capabilities. “I personally feel that I would not have had the opportunities I’ve experienced at SCAD anywhere else in the world—from scholarship programs that relieved my financial burdens to guiding me toward meaningful internships and job opportunities in the industry,” the college quoted Imcha.
Coming to Atlanta proved to be beneficial in other ways: it’s where she met her husband, Timothy Payne, to whom she has been married for almost two years.
Imcha is described as a “perennial dean’s list student.” She was the recipient of the SCAD’s Leadership Award in 2008 and, in 2009, the recipient of the William Randolph Hearst Scholarship Award and named Student Leader of the Year.
As a talented features editor for The Connector, SCAD Atlanta’s student online news resource, Imcha moved on to serve as founding editor-in-chief of SCAD Atlanta’s student magazine, SCAN, which launched in Spring 2009. Under Imcha’s leadership, The Connector and SCAN have won dozens of awards on the state, regional and national levels in the United States including SCAN’s first-place win for overall magazine design from among those at all US colleges and universities.
Acclaimed actress, author and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini addressed the Spring 2010 Savannah College of Art and Design graduating class at commencement ceremonies at the university’s Atlanta and Savannah locations. Rossellini, the daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini, is herself famous for her 14-year tenure as a Lancôme model and for her roles in films such as “Blue Velvet” and “Death Becomes Her.”
