Bloomfield College Student-Athlete Daniela Vidal Turns Softball Scholarship Into a Life of Purpose

This story is part of a series celebrating Montclair State University’s Spring Commencement 2025 graduates – students who embody the University’s mission to broaden access to exceptional learning opportunities and contribute to the common good. 

For Daniela Vidal, softball isn’t just a game. Driven and tenacious, she credits the sport with teaching her grit – the mindset that defines her approach to life.

“If it didn’t happen the first time, keep on going until it happens,” says Vidal. “I’m 100% sure I got that from softball.”

And if there is any word that describes her, grit is it. As a McNair Scholar, student-athlete, peer mentor and team captain, Vidal faced the responsibilities and pressures of college life with resilience and gratitude.

But that worldview wasn’t softball’s only gift.

“Softball’s the reason why I came to college,” says Vidal, who enrolled in Bloomfield College of Montclair State University in 2021 with an athletic scholarship. “I didn’t have to pay much to come to college. And that’s a blessing.”

Learning to Lead: Lessons On and Off the Field

Raised with an early affinity for numbers, choosing Business Administration as a major felt like a natural fit.

“Ever since I was smaller, I saw my grandpa crunching numbers with his calculator,” Vidal recalls. “I was just fascinated with numbers.”

But balancing her coursework with the demands of being a student-athlete was far from easy.

“I was late to practice all the time,” she remembers. “Late to school. Late to everything.”

That’s when Vidal found her first of many mentors: Phil Delgado, her former softball coach whose tough love got her back on track.

“My coach actually pulled me aside and told me ‘you just need to prioritize,’” she recalls.

Delgado’s advice was a turning point. Vidal went on to achieve 100 hits as a junior and started every game throughout her college career – all while balancing two academic concentrations. Eventually, she led the Bloomfield softball team as a captain.

“This year I was telling the freshmen – from the jump, from the first day they came – don’t be late. Learn from my experience,” she says, laughing. “I think it worked. Maybe I spread some fear.”

Her journey on the field taught her discipline – but it was off the field where she discovered how much she loved helping others grow, too.

A Passion for Helping Others

Vidal’s passion for helping others sparked in 2022, when she worked as a counselor at the Boys & Girls Club. She loved taking the kids outside for games – often getting so caught up in a game of wiffleball that they’d run past their scheduled time.

Through this experience, she realized that she loved being a positive influence on the kids.

That desire to help others led to her peer financial consulting role – using her gift for numbers to help fellow students overcome their fear of managing money.

“A lot of people are scared of their finances – scared of losing power over their finances,” says Vidal. “I wanted to let people know that it’s a common fear. It’s not only you.”

McNair Scholars: Expanding Her Horizons

Her sophomore year, Vidal received an email from the McNair Scholars Program and at first dismissed it as a scam. But a conversation with Bloomfield’s McNair Scholars program director, Beverly Fields, changed everything.

“I never knew a PhD was for me,” Vidal admits. “As soon as I heard, ‘We’ll help you on your PhD journey,’ I was like, wait, this is a possibility? And I think this program is going to help me do it.”

She applied immediately, and to her surprise, she was accepted.

Mentorship That Mattered – In and Out of the Classroom

While the McNair Program gave Vidal the tools to thrive academically, some of her most meaningful support came from unexpected places.

“My boyfriend, Anibal, was my biggest support. He kept it real,” she says. “He’d say, ‘Study for it or you’re going to fail.’ I needed that.” He also coached her through job interviews, asking her hard questions and helping her prepare.

Vidal credits her growth to the tough love of the people who believed in her – from her softball coaches to her McNair mentors – and who pushed her to believe in herself.

On May 8, 2025, she will earn a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with two concentrations – Marketing and Finance.

On her mortarboard, she’ll wear a picture of herself and her grandfather with the words, “Gracias a lo que sembraste, hoy me graduo con honor.”

In other words, thanks to what you planted in me, with honor today I graduate. 

It’s a tribute to the grandfather who instilled in her both a love of numbers and the grit she needed to succeed.

What’s Next: Merging Finance and Criminal Justice

After graduation, Vidal will begin working full time at BNY Pershing, the division of BNY Mellon where she interned in the summer of 2024.

But her educational journey isn’t over. Her next goal is to combine her passion for finance with her budding interest in law.

After being accepted to more than six graduate programs, she chose the University of New Haven’s Cyber Threat Intelligence and Financial Crimes Investigations online master’s program  – the only one of its kind in the United States.

And yes, a PhD is on the horizon.

Inspired by her own experience, Vidal hopes to one day coach girls in softball – passing down the confidence, discipline and grit the sport gave her.

“Because sports did such a big thing in my life. I want to give back, you know?” she says. “Whatever way it may be, I just want to give back somehow.”

The University will celebrate its graduates at Commencement exercises on Wednesday, May 7 and Thursday, May 8, 2025 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. 

Story by Jayda Brown, University Communications and Marketing

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