Whiz Kid: Daniel Rung Catches the Acting Bug

Name: Daniel Rung - Age 16

School: - Junior

Accomplishments: Rung caught the acting bug while at the with his first performance as Rusty Charlie in Guys and Dolls, followed by Alice in Wonderland, playing the role of Tweedle Dee.

At the high school, he continued as a member of the Drama Club with performances in Curtains, Fiddler on the Roof and most recently Sweeney Todd. Rung played five different characters in the Panther Players production of The Laramie Project last month.

He spent the past two summers working with the Mount Sinai Summer Theater Arts Program, with an ensemble role in Godspell and as the butler in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He plans to run for the position of Drama Club secretary.

Along with 16 other Miller Place High School students, Rung helped create the .  It was aired along with 24 other films at a Red Carpet Event at the Patchogue Theater.

The junior has played the string bass in the orchestra since the fourth grade, was a member of Vocal Jazz I for grades 9 and 10 and as a junior was selected to be in Vocal Jazz II. He has performed at the Miller Place Friends of the Arts ice cream social fundraiser each June, as well as at the Veteran's Day Ceremony held yearly in Sound Beach. He had the opportunity to participate in Sayville High School's Jazz Day for the past three years.

Rung has taken honors and AP classes in English and Social Studies and is a member of the Spanish Foreign Language Honor Society. He has been a member of the high school's Service Club for three years.

Each year he has assisted with the Dig Pink event, which raises money for breast cancer research and awareness, as well as Safe Halloween, which provides the younger children in the area a safe and fun place to trick-or-treat as they go to variously themed high school classrooms for a treat. He is considering pursuing a career in Forensic Psychology.