Dan started life in the city of East Islip, New York but moved to Ellicott City, Maryland when he was in kindergarten. “Some people pick up on the accent but usually think it’s because I’m from Maryland,” Dan told me. I asked his mom Sheila why the move to Maryland and she told me, “Dan’s father (Jack) got a new higher position with Citi Bank.”
For his high school career Dan attended Howard High School. This depilated brick building, oldest in Ellicott City, is where Dan performed different musical stylings for his classmates. Dan first picked up bass guitar and self taught himself how to play. From bass he expanded to acoustic and electric guitar. Dan had said, “…I play all genres of music…”, but during high school he performed in a death metal band. This group, Xanthos, actually performed at an after prom party Dan’s sophomore year. Other instruments he can play include piano, drums, and mandolin. Dan is quoted saying, “I just pick up a different instrument and teach myself.”
Dan Riess is a sociably friendly person. He has done a large deal of community service around his hometown and plans to do some more while attending Virginia Tech. Dan said, “I signed up for YMCA because I want to do more community service, repair house, help the elderly, stuff like that.” Dan, just as the green ogre Shrek, has a heavy heart and wants to help out as much as possible.
Dan loved to partake in community service throughout his town in Maryland. Back in Ellicott City Dan helped churches to fundraise and go to places such as the Appalachian Mountains. It is no wonder Dan Riess chose Virginia Tech, he already lived by the motto “Ut Prosim”. It is amazing that an engineering student would give up time studying to go better the community. At the same time though, Dan Riess is anything but a regular student.
I got a chance to talk to Dan’s roommate and longtime friend Wes Boxton to “peel back” the layers and get a friend’s perspective. Wes and Dan have been good friends since back in sixth grade. Wes remembered the first encounter and told me, “…our teacher had us sit next to each other in English class and we kicked it off from there.”When asked what are some traits of Dan that helped make the friendship quicker to obtain Wes said, “His humor and how friendly he is to people he knows and also complete strangers.” The positive friendly spirit Dan posses now seems to have been with him ever since his youth.
To find out if Dan had been a friendly young boy I got a phone interview with his mom Sheila. She told me Dan was a very sociable and outgoing little boy. Sheila said, “He would just go up to children in his kindergarten and say hi.” Sheila had also told me Dan got his sense of humor from his dad Jack. Reminiscing about that Sheila said with a chuckle, “I remember when Dan would do knock-knock jokes over and over again.”
When in middle school, a high school teacher explained to Dan’s class a new program at Howard high. The program dealt with engineering and students would have an engineering class all four years of high school. Out of the many students that heard about this program and thought about doing it, Dan and two colleagues took the challenge. Five years after hearing about the engineering program, Dan got his diploma being in the first class to accomplish the four year task.
For anyone who has seen the 2001 Disney classic Shrek, it is understandable that the ogre Shrek does not look athletic in the least. He is large, sluggish, and not that intelligent. When it’s time to put up or shut up however, Shrek bursts out with athleticism that would never be imagined. The same can be said about Dan Riess but without the large, sluggish, and not intelligent part.
Back in high school Dan ran on Howard’s cross country team. He had good enough times to get his team points too. “I usually ran nineteen something,” Dan said. If Dan walked down the street the thought of a cross country runner probably doesn’t race through someone’s mind. The truth is he did run and made every race interesting.
Dan recalled his best race for me to write about. It was a crisp autumn day; the leaves were a rainbow of colors that dotted the skyline. Dan remembers, “I warmed up like normal but I felt like this could be the day I make my personal record.” The gun shot and the race began. Wind whipping through his hair and the pitter-patter of feet to grass behind him, Dan began his move towards the front of the pack. Dan recalled, “I just got in my groove. Every half mile I increased my speed trying to reach those top runners.” On the final stretch Dan gave it his all pushing his limbs to the limit. Crossing the line Dan overheard 18:49 and knew he accomplished his goal. Dan didn’t get first but he did get the team points that eventually made the difference in the final score.
During his junior year of cross country Dan had terrible acne. To help clear it, Dan started using Accutane. Unfortunately, Dan acquired some of the side effects and eventually got mono from taking the Accutane. Mono affected his running time but at the same time Dan said, “At least I didn’t die.” Seeing and feeling the negative effects of accutane got Dan to perform something most high school students wouldn’t carry out for fun.
Dan wanted to create a science experiment that showed the harm accutane can do to a body. To recreate what happened to him but not harm another human being, Dan decided to use mice. Mice group A received no accutane in their food while mice group B did receive a small dose in their food. Within weeks results showed that the accutane mice were shaking, behaving irregularly, and dying off while the other mice were fine. Dan did this experiment his junior year, almost a precursor to the types of experiments he might do at Virginia Tech.
When asked why Virginia Tech Dan told me, “Everyone where I live goes to College Park once they graduate. I wanted something different scenery wise and people wise.” Dan is currently enrolled in the Galileo program for male engineers at Virginia Tech. Having taken the engineering classes at Howard high I asked Dan if he felt prepared for college engineering and the Galileo program. Dan said, “I feel prepared but wish I didn’t sign up for Galileo.”
The adventure of Dan Riess has only just hit chapter two and all new paths are being found. Dan is definitely more than just generalizations; he is his own unique person. Everything he has done, is doing, and is going to do have shaped Dan into a great person. I encourage you to meet Dan Riess; don’t be afraid he won’t bite. All Dan will do is be the friendliest guy you know and show that you can’t read a book by its cover.
Sources: Dan Riess (644 lee hall)
Wes Boxton (644 Lee hall)
Sheila Riess (Ellicott City, Maryland)
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