LA JOLLA, Calif. -- For some, it is easy to pinpoint a moment that started a journey, and for Sydney Sharp of the University of California San Diego women's basketball team, it was an unexpected infection that ultimately became a blessing in disguise. Currently pursuing a master's degree in public health, Sharp might not be where she is today if not for an incident involving a purple, puffy foot in the fifth grade.
 
Unsurprisingly for the dedicated scholar-athlete, the situation can be traced back to athletics. 10-year old Sharp had played eight basketball and soccer games over the course of a weekend. Exhausted at the end, she walked barefoot back to the family car. The trouble started soon after.
 
"The next day, I had a really bad fever, so I stayed home from school," Sharp recounted. "When my parents came home, I couldn't put any pressure on my foot or walk, so I was crawling around the house. We went to the doctor's because it got super swollen, puffy, and purple. I was hospitalized three times and couldn't walk on it for a few weeks."
 
Despite the many hospital visits, the doctors were unable to determine exactly what was wrong. That was when Sharp met with someone new: an infectious disease doctor.
 
"He walked me through my labs and had me make slide charts of what my white blood count was, what my red blood count was, and what it meant," Sharp recalled. "It was so cool that I got to know what everything meant. In the end, it was a staph infection and it went away."
 
The experience was a turning point for Sharp, as she had discovered her interest in infectious diseases.
 
"Ever since then, that's what I wanted to do," Sharp shared. "I found it so interesting… When I watch crime shows or things like that I'm always into that kind of stuff. That experience stuck with me throughout the years."
 
Sharp came to UC San Diego as a human biology major, but decided to switch to global health midway through her freshman year. The discipline was a perfect fit.
 
"The majority of global health is studying diseases on a broader scale," Sharp explained. "We look at how social determinants like age and socioeconomic status connect with health. We also look at how diseases spread, how we can combat them, and what steps can be done to prevent them."
 
Heading into her junior year, Sharp realized she was ahead of schedule with her academic credits due to AP classes she had taken in high school. She met with Senior Associate AD for Ethics, Compliance, & Scholar-Athlete Success Katie McGann and mapped out how she could graduate in three years. Following the plan, Sharp successfully completed her undergraduate degree as a junior.
 
During her final year in undergraduate, Sharp applied to UC San Diego's Master of Public Health program. The degree program was relatively new for the university, as it was implemented in 2018. When Sharp found out she was accepted, she was thrilled.
 
"I felt really accomplished," Sharp said. "I was pretty nervous applying because I didn't know exactly what it took to get into a master's program and it was still so new."
 
Now in the midst of her first year in the program, Sharp has handled the transition well. On top of taking classes, she is in her fourth year with the women's basketball team. Ranked 21^st in the nation, the team holds a record of 6-2 so far this season.
 
"[Balancing basketball and the master's program] isn't as hard as I was expecting because I don't have that much homework," Sharp explained. "It's basically readings, which aren't that bad... Compared to undergraduate, the classes are basically the same but just a higher caliber of the information you're getting."
 
One aspect of the program that Sharp has particularly enjoyed is the professors.
 
"The teachers are always there to help you and want to see you do well," Sharp noted. "They're enthusiastic about me being a student-athlete because they're not used to it. Most of the people are older and have completed their athletic years, so I think they find it cool."
 
Sharp expects that she will be able to finish the program after next year's winter quarter. As for what is next, Sharp has her sights set on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
 
"This summer I'm going to try to get an internship with the CDC and get experience there, because ideally I'd like to work there in the future," Sharp said. "Hopefully I'll find a job or something in the field so I can make connections and get a foot in the door."
 
This time, it won't be a purple, puffy foot.
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
With 30 national team championships, nearly 150 individual titles and the top student-athlete graduation rate among Division II institutions in the United States, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program annually ranks as one of the most successful in the country.  The Tritons sponsor 23 intercollegiate sport programs that compete on the NCAA Division I and II levels and, in summer 2020, will transition into full Division I status as a member of the Big West Conference.  UC San Diego student-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent.  A total of 82 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 37 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships.  In competition, more than 1,300 UC San Diego student-athletes have earned All-America honors.

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