Maggie Brascia has reason to celebrate after earning a bachelor of science degree in computer science from Concordia University Irvine. 

The 22-year-old Mission Viejo, CA native accomplished the feat while simultaneously pursuing her professional pickleball career - and she didn't take any online classes along the way.

That's a notable achievement requiring discipline and dedication to the max.

“Attending college in-person and traveling across the country for tournaments was definitely stressful and overwhelming. There have been so many tournaments where I would be at the venue playing all day and then have to rush back to my hotel room to finish a computer science project or homework for one of my classes,” explained Brascia. “Since I had a full class load, it was tough to balance my classes with practice and tournaments. School was a big priority for me, so it was difficult to focus solely on pickleball when I always had homework and due dates on my mind.”

Those classes were no walk in the park.

Group assignments were especially demanding given her busy pickleball schedule.

“My toughest class was a drone class where my classmates and I had to build our own drone and program it to fly around our entire campus. My team and I spent so many hours building the drone from scratch and writing the code to get it to fly and function correctly,” shared Brascia. “There was a lot of trial and error, but our drone was able to successfully complete the course.”

The coursework was challenging and rewarding at the same time.

Thankfully, her instructors understood that her athletic pursuits were equally important as her studies in the grand scheme of things.

”My major was difficult and required a lot of time, effort, and energy. Luckily, I attended a school where my professors worked with me and were supportive of my pickleball career,” noted Brascia. ”Some of my professors would even watch my matches or follow how I was doing in a tournament.” 

Brascia is adamant that she wouldn’t have been able to reach her academic goals and compete at pickleball's highest level concurrently without them.

And she can't thank them enough for their assistance. 

“Find a school that will support you,” she advised, referencing students with similar education and pickleball aspirations. “I would not have been able to do this if my professors didn’t work with my schedule and support my pickleball journey.”

So what's next?

Thankfully, pickleball remains a top priority.

“My current plan is to keep playing pickleball professionally. I’m looking forward to having more freedom to pursue new hobbies, have more time to train, and get as good as I can,” said Brascia. “I won’t be applying for computer science jobs just yet, but I really enjoy web design and might even want to start my own business in the future.”

People say college is the best four years of your life. Brascia can attest to that.

Even though it was busy and stressful at times, it was still a lot of fun. 

“I’ll miss the community and social aspect the most. I met some of my best friends in college, had great professors, and overall made so many memories that I will never forget,” she concluded. “But, I’m not going to miss all of the homework and studying.”