Social worker, mother, ukulele strummer and aerial fabric performer. Colorado resident Margaret Sharpe, ’96, is a woman of many hats who pursues meaning in all that she does.
Sharpe graduated from Elizabethtown College in 1996 with a degree in social work. Recollecting her time at Etown, Sharpe said, “[Etown] was such a warm place. It was the environment that I needed to learn and find my way before going out into the world. The professors helped me blow my mind open, and I’ll always feel grateful for what they gave me.”
Later, in 1997, she went on to the University of Denver in Colorado and earned a Master of Social Work. While there, she focused primarily on hospice and palliative care. After receiving her master’s degree, Sharpe became a pediatric social worker and bereavement counselor at Denver Hospice. During her time at the hospice center, Sharpe got married and had her son. However, seeing children die daily took its emotional toll on Sharpe’s maternal spirit, and after 11 years she left her position there. After dabbling in HIV case management, Sharpe found what she dubbed her “true love”: hospital social work.
For four years, she worked at The Denver Clinic for Extremities at Risk at the Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center’s speciality clinic, as an inpatient and outpatient social worker for patients who suffered from bone and soft tissue cancers of the arms and legs and workers’ compensation accidents and amputations. Sharpe also worked in telephone triage for the replant service, setting up surgeries for a multi-state area. “Because Presbyterian St. Luke’s has such specialized upper extremity hand surgeons with microvascular surgical experience, the doctors would replant fingers, hands and even arms that were accidentally cut off in saw or large machine accidents,” Sharpe said. Now, she works at Rose Medical Center — a sister hospital of St. Luke’s — where she aids the homeless, uninsured and those struggling with addiction.
However, Sharpe’s interests are not limited to social work alone. After seeing a Burning Man performance, Sharpe felt compelled to become an aerial fabric and lyra performer. Burning Man is an event that occurs in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, where different performers sweat it out in above 100 degree weather to express themselves freely. While Burning Man occurs once a year, performers continue to perform as part of the Burning Man project throughout the year. “I saw the most talented, beautiful artists perform there, and I felt inspired enough to just go for it. The Burning Man community really encourages people to follow their passions — especially artistic passions,” Sharpe said. Due to injuries and time commitments, Sharpe no longer aerially performs on the physically demanding lyra and fabric, but continues to appreciate performances.
In addition to her passion for performing, Sharpe marks her greatest accomplishment as motherhood, saying “being a mother is probably the most exciting and rewarding thing I’ll ever do, though I do feel like I’m changing the world in my own small way by being a social worker.”
When she’s not busy with work and motherhood, you can find Sharpe lounging on her front porch, singing a tune while plucking the ukulele nestled in her arms. Even though her stage may change daily, Sharpe has no problem embracing her different roles.
Her advice to current Etown students: “I would advise them to take some time to really decide what matters to them. I’d ask them where they find meaning and what really makes them feel alive. And then I’d tell them to do those things as much as possible.”