Daniel Surman '17 Recruiting Profile

    For the first seven years of my life, I grew up with just my mom and my older sister. I never once thought of myself different because of this, I knew I was just as good as everyone else.  Even with a low income, my mom made sure I was active early on by involving me in sports. I tried football, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, Etc. For the most part, I was better than everyone and never really felt challenged. Because of this, I never ended up settling on one sport.

     My freshman year of high school I decided to try pole vaulting. It started out great with me clearing PRs the first four weeks, but then I hit a plateau and didn't PR for the rest of the year. It was a challenge I have never experienced before. I had a decision to make at the end of that season whether to give up and try something else or to come back next season even better.That next season I came out motivated and ended up clearing a PR my first meet! That season showed me what patience and persistence is capable of when you're truly committed to something. Since this experience, I learned that I crave a challenge, and that I am very stubborn. I will try endlessly to overcome any obstacle until I conquer it. These are qualities that I know will benefit any program both on the track and in the classroom.