In The Light – Dan Prial

Daniel Prial, a senior hailing from Wilton, Connecticut, applied to Colgate on somewhat of a whim.

“I heard that if you like the school in the rain, you should come,” said Prial. “Well, I did.”

Prial may seem nonchalant about attending Colgate, but it didn’t take long for him to prove his passion for a wide range of activities all across campus.

“I’m involved in three categories of activities really,” Prial explained. “Music, politics and the woods.” A Renaissance man in every sense of the word, Prial has played the French horn since fifth grade. He had planned on joining the concert band at Colgate. Unfortunately, when he arrived Colgate had no wind ensemble, and Prial was forced to, as he explains with a chuckle, “Make things happen.”

“There was no wind ensemble, so I started one!” Prial declared, as if the task were simple. “I founded it second semester of freshman year. The organization started out with eighteen members. Now there are forty-five.”

After going abroad during his junior year, it was rewarding to return and see that his group was flourishing.

“I don’t even run it anymore,” Prial said. “It’s its own thing now.”

In addition to the wind ensemble, Prial is involved politically on campus. He was the Dorm Senator for East Hall as a first-year, and as a sophomore was elected the Secretary of the Academic Affairs committee. Prial became a communication director during his junior year. This year he is on the Constitutional Revision Committee.

“I’ve been in SGA since day one,” Prial said. “Two and a half years of working on the constitution. On March 20 it gets voted on. It’s the be all and end all of those two and half years.”

Although very involved at Colgate, Prial also studied abroad in Germany for a semester. While there he had time to pursue an interest in the outdoors, such as hiking, something he has difficultly finding time to do while on campus.

Prial is concentrating in International Relations with a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies.

“I’m going to get a job,” Prial said of his post-graduation plans. “What that job is, is still up in the air. I’d like to get out of the country. Get some miles under my shoes.”

With senior year halfway over, Prial is “doing less, having more fun.” For the future, Prial laughed as he simply stated: “I’m just hoping I won’t be living in a cardboard box”.