St. Ed’s graduate Daniella “Dani” Pulido immediately located the fast track to academic success and peer leadership when she became a Pirate in seventh grade. That combination will serve her well when classes begin later this summer at Wake Forest University.
While academics has been her priority since day one, soccer was the venue where she was able to gain the respect of her teammates and ultimately assert the qualities expected of a group leader.
“In seventh grade I started on the JV soccer team and in eighth grade I moved up to the varsity,” Pulido said. “My older sister [Alex] was on the team that year too, so it was very easy to get involved with the rest of the girls and with the coach, Mr. [Jeff] Lamscha.”
Pulido, who entered the world of competitive soccer at age four, was also a part-time tennis player for St. Ed’s, primarily as a beginner. But it was soccer where she made her mark.
“I just enjoyed Mr. Lamscha as a coach as well as the group of girls I was with,” Pulido told us. “This year was phenomenal with Ms. [Jaclyn] Pancotti as the new coach. Being the team captain this year, it was nice to see my progression through the years and how I was influenced by everybody along the way.”
The now eighteen-year-old was a natural in the evolution from learning to influencing others as a senior. “I embraced a leadership role and found that it was really a lot easier than I expected,” Pulido said. “I was really comfortable. It was just a matter of wanting to be that extra voice to help out the girls.
“They were already motivated, but bringing the team together to function as a unit was a big factor. We did a lot of team bonding activities and that made it a lot of fun. Every year we always had a different group of girls. [Co-captain] Brett Harper and I really wanted to make sure we had a close-knit group this year, and that was definitely the case.”
Pulido and Harper formed a stiff defensive backbone for Pancotti’s inaugural varsity team. The line was further fortified by senior classmates Morgan Benson and Adline Juste. They kept the enemy at bay in front of keeper Krystin Malek to the tune of 10 shutouts in a 12-2-3 season.
“Without Dani helping out back there our defense would not be able to work,” Pancotti said during the season. “She is the heart of our midfield defense.”
When you consider the makeup of a team that featured 11 players from eighth through tenth grade, the comments about Pulido’s leadership were more than just the usual boilerplate. More to the point, her desire to make teams better extended to sports in which she didn’t even participate.
“Since ninth grade I would always hang out in the training room with Coach Weiss,” Pulido explained, referring to Athletic Trainer Lisa Weiss. “I would be there with her at every practice and every game, especially for the football team.
“I started to learn about things related to sports medicine and athletic training. I would help her out with injuries, distributing water and anything else that was required. That didn’t really tie into what I’m going to major in, but I just enjoyed doing it.”
That was a bit of an understatement for someone planning to study political science and international relations while entering a pre-law track at Wake Forest. Before her senior year she was designated Assistant Athletic Trainer and credited with 326 hours of community service for her work with Weiss. The final tally was undoubtedly well over 400 hours. She also formed a school club to educate others about managing injuries.
Pulido’s leadership potential was recognized by the National Honor Society for four straight years in high school. She was the recipient of the Paul Hermansen Scholarship Award in 2013-14. Clearly well rounded, she was Defensive Player of the Year as a junior for a 10-5-1 team in Lamscha’s farewell campaign.
Those and a host of other credentials coupled with a 4.28 GPA flung wide open a bunch of college admission doors.
“I applied to seven schools and got into all of them. Then I narrowed it down to four: George Washington University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The College of William and Mary, and Wake Forest. It was a tough choice.
“I visited all of them, but I went to an overnight and all day program at Wake Forest and just fell in love with the school. I felt really comfortable with the atmosphere there and everything else about the campus.”
Pulido says leaving town has sunk in and that she enjoyed her time at St. Ed’s, calling going there one of the best decisions she ever made. She may return to Vero in a few years however. While working a summer job in 2014, she so impressed a local law firm with her maturity, work ethic and competency that an upgraded job offer awaits when she has a law degree in hand.