COLLEGE CORNER: Dan Marley '16, George Washington University

Last summer, Dan Marley received a great surprise. After interning at Lockheed Martin Space working ground system software applications managing and coordinating groups of satellites, he was offered a position as a software engineer and will begin this summer after graduation.

“Obviously I never took a class on managing satellites so there was a lot of learning on the job, Marley says. He believes that many of the skills he learned at the Prep helped him land this prestigious position. “To stand out in engineering, you must have a good base in math and science, obviously but reading, writing, and interpersonal skills are essential. The Prep prepared me in all of those ways, and taught me how to be competitive among really successful people.”

At the Prep, Marley was active in the Mock Trial Team, Cape and Sword Drama Society, and Breaking Barriers where he was the student leader his senior year. Those activities blended with his rigorous academic work to help him excel in college, where he served on the board of the Student Theatre Company and did the set design for the company’s performance of “Legally Blonde” this fall. He will do the same for the spring production of “Little Shop of Horrors.”

“I loved stage crew at the Prep,” Marley says fondly. “Staying after school and working on something with a group was really great. I absolutely loved it.”

Marley was one of only two kids from his school to attend the Prep. “I was a fish out of water and had to find my spot,” he says. “The Prep pushed me to find areas outside of academics that I enjoyed and to find people with similar interests. It was obviously strong academics, but that piece added so many skills for me.”