Pring-Wilson was born to former Colorado Springs District Attorney Cynthia M. Pring and attorney Ross A. Wilson, and lived on a ranch with both until age six.

The two divorced when Pring-Wilson was young, but shared parental custody throughout his youth.

Pring describes her son’s voracious appetites for books—he taught himself to read when he was less than three years old, and pored over Shakespeare by fourth grade, she says.

At William J. Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, Pring-Wilson left his mark as a musician and an athlete.

Pring-Wilson sang in the choir, played piano in the jazz band, acted in school plays and served as captain of the football team.

In college, he captained the rugby team.

Despite not really being “that great an athlete,” his mother says, several described Pring-Wilson as driven and aggressive on the field.

Rugby Co-Captain James C. Orofino, says Pring-Wilson frequently played through serious injuries—including several to the head.

“He played through more injuries and more pain than I’ve ever seen anyone play through,” says Orofino

The same characteristics have carried over into his academic career.

According to his mother and friends, Pring-Wilson earned perfect scores on the logic section of the ACT and the verbal sections of both the SAT and the GRE.

After spending time in Russia on an exchange program, he returned to study there for several months during college.

Pring-Wilson graduated from Colorado College in 2000 with a major in classics.

Colorado College Philosophy Professor John Riker, who taught Pring-Wilson, says he was a persistent philosopher.

“He was not a pushover in any way,” Riker says. “He’d stand his ground...[he’d] hang in with his view.”