Dan Trombley '09 says Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II, has been the most inspirational person in his life.  "He showed tenacity and vigor in spite of great odds, great successes, and even great downfalls," Dan explains.

With a role model like Churchill it is not surprising that Dan has found great success as a history major and geology minor at St. Lawrence.

In 2008, Dan was accepted into the Ronald E. McNair program, a summer research program created in memory of the first African American to fly in space and who died in the Challenger explosion.The program is for first-generation college students from underrepresented populations who meet income guidelines and want to pursue graduate study.

“The program meant a great deal to me because it provided me with a rare time to devote all my efforts to historical research,” recalls Dan, whose interest is 19th -century European military history.

“History has always read like a good story for me,” Dan says. “I can visualize and try to place myself in the situations and movements described.”

Dan enjoys acting, hiking and running. “I like the outdoors and try to get as much of it as I can,” noted Dan, a native of Watertown, NY, who graduated from Sackets Harbor Central School.

He hopes to present the research he has done through the McNair program at a couple of conferences around the country. “I am also going to take a long shot and travel to New York this summer to audition for theater – hey, you never really know until you actually do it,” he says with Churchill-like confidence.