Catching up with Dylan Ford

MSA graduate Dylan Ford at home in NOVA.

Dylan Ford graduated from Miller School in 2008. He is now one of the top real estate agents in Northern Virginia. We sat down with him this summer to learn more about his current ventures and his time as a Red Devil/Maverick.

As you look back at your years on the Hill, what three adjectives best describe your view of the Miller School community?

Anchoring, Welcoming, Nurturing

Miller offered me the strong foundation I needed at a vulnerable point in my life and helped shape my mindset toward hard work and ultimately career success. As time passes and those years move further into my rearview, the Hill remains a welcoming place, and my time there still guides decisions I make today.

Tell us about your path to Miller School and becoming a Maverick/Red Devil.

I was diagnosed with depression and ADHD at a very young age, which as a young child required extra attention. Between the ages of 11-14, my life and family went through many major changes. This included multiple moves and school changes, settings away from what I was familiar and comfortable with at that point in my life. I didn't know how to adapt and was not making the best choices for myself. This led to my mom seeking help and ultimately finding Miller School, which turned out to be exactly the structured and supportive environment I needed.

You are currently one of the top real estate agents in Northern Virginia. Tell us about this.

To be honest, it still feels weird to hear that said out loud. I'm still very much just getting started and have so much more I want to achieve. It can be incredibly busy and stressful at times, but in those moments I remind myself the problems I have today are side effects of the success I dreamt of just a few years ago. It has led to truly incredible connections. Many of my now closest friends came through work.

I started thinking it would just be something on the side. I didn't realize the passion I would have for the entire field until I got going. The irony of my success in the field is that anyone who knew me at Miller would likely say a sales-oriented role is the last place I'd end up. I started in sales in college simply to make some money and taught myself how to sell just to keep the job, never thinking it would take me down the path it has. When starting my real estate business, I still had a lot to learn, but the hardest part wasn't the industry knowledge itself; it was learning how to personally change and grow to become who I needed to be in order to be successful.

In addition to your successful career, what are some of your interests and hobbies these days?

I actually still enjoy many of the same hobbies I did during my time at Miller. I competed in bodybuilding and strongman competitions for a while until a few years ago when I developed sciatica. As I wasn't getting any younger and the risks were increasing, it was the end of my competition days, but I still enjoy training and pushing my body.

I still play guitar and am trying to learn piano. The dreams of being a superstar like Post Malone are long gone, but I still enjoy practicing and playing along to my favorite songs when I can. I go to as many concerts as I can. I may not be gifted at it, but music has always been an important part of my life.

Of all the adults (teachers, administrators, staff members) with whom you came into contact at Miller School, who are some of your most memorable or most influential, and why?

Without a doubt, I would not be where I am today without the influence of Mr. Spivey. Economics and business math were new to me at the time of signing up for Spivey's intro to econ class. Not only did the material naturally fascinate me, but he made it incredibly engaging. Anyone who knew him would say Spivey was eccentric, to say the least, but without a doubt, his passion for what he taught sparked my own and helped fuel my lifelong passion for continuing to learn and grow, including getting my Master's degree in Finance.

Another major influence was Mr. Hunt. Although I never had him as a teacher, he was an incredible wrestling coach. I had never wrestled a day in my life nor even been around it until Miller. My junior year I thought I'd try it out to get in better shape. It was tough, but I enjoyed the challenge. I worked hard my first year and went out to train at UVA over the summer going into senior year. Those two seasons taught me so much. I had always been bigger and stronger than most, but when you get thrown around like a ragdoll and pinned by guys 50-75 lbs less than you, you learn humility and to not judge others very quickly. Come time for the state tournament my senior year, I was the only team member who had any desire to compete. Mr. Hunt still met with me in that freezing cold basement to get me ready and drove me to the tournament. That devotion to helping just one student's aspirations still means so much to me. I still think about those practices, dry heaving into a trash can and getting my face smashed into the mat over and over again. A lot of what we have to do in life is uncomfortable or even painful, but I think about moments like those, and much of what I deal with doesn't seem so bad by comparison, knowing I've been through worse.

What do you primarily remember about your very first visit to the campus at Miller School?

I wish I could remember more about my first impressions. I was a hard-headed teenager. But I can recall my early days on the Hill, just thinking about getting to go home on the weekends and how that evolved into not even wanting to go back home.

Did Miller School’s “mind, hands, and heart” approach to secondary school education play a fundamental role in shaping the person you are today? If so, how?

I believe it did. Being a boarding student forced me to live and study side-by-side with people from all sorts of different backgrounds and beliefs from across the globe. It also taught me the importance of giving back and, as I've heard many refer to as “sending the ladder back down” to help open doors for others as they had been opened for me.