Located above iconic La Jolla beaches, UC San Diego has a culture of competitive academics – hence its 34% acceptance rate – and of course, surfing. With a total of seven national championships under their belt, the UC San Diego surf team has made waves throughout their conference.

The university recently recognized the team’s high esteem with its inaugural surfing scholarship awarded to sophomore Makena Burke.

Burke, the first female president of the surfing team and the first to receive this trailblazing scholarship has an extensive and competitive background in the sport. Burke is a 2022 national champion, double state champion, NSSA “Surfer of the Week Recipient” and former junior USA surfer. She consistently places high in all of her heats, making her an asset for the UC San Diego surfing team.

With two years ahead of her as a UC San Diego surfer and leader of the team, she believes this new scholarship to be a positive sign for the success of future seasons.

“It was pretty special, it came as a complete surprise to me,” said Burke. “The biggest thing it will do for the future of our team is attract more talent. It is a really hard school to get into and I think that having this fund will be an extra motivator for people to work hard in school and be able to get accepted into a school like this one.”

However, as she sees it, her $5,000 scholarship goes deeper than UC San Diego surfing; it is an indication to surfers that it is possible to pursue a competitive surf career and an education simultaneously.

“On a larger scale, it’s just showing that surfing is being recognized as a sport that accepts education,” said Burke. “When I was growing up, I always tried to balance school and surfing, which was kind of the unpopular viewpoint. I think the scholarship just goes against the norm and instills a new outlook on competitive surfing for the better.”

Closing off her sophomore season and school year, Burke will be putting that balance to the test as she prepares for finals and the team’s upcoming national championship competition. As part of her scholarship agreement, the sophomore must maintain good academic standing,

“You can’t surf when you are 60 years old, you only have so much time to be able to pursue the career of professional surfing,” said Burke. “So, having an education is so important because it is something you can pursue for the rest of your life, even when you are not able to surf anymore.”