FEATURE: BROOKS CRAWFORD

Not all who wander are lost. Some people even seek opportunities to travel aimlessly from place to place. This idea can seem intimidating to those who do not like change, but it seems as though the option of taking gap year between secondary school and higher education is becoming more common as time goes on.

Brooks Crawford, a freshman international business major, did just that. He felt drawn to this idea and wanted to wander. Within his junior year of high school he watched a video of a man in London who had quit his job to travel, and thought it looked unbelievable. Crawford took this misbelief and made it possible in taking a gap year before he attended Harding.

“I'm really not sure why I exactly decided to follow through on this idea,” Crawford said. “I just wanted to do my own thing for a little while, and made it happen. In just a short three months I explored the other side of the world stopping in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.”

Alec Yates, a sophomore exercise science major, was a friend to Crawford previous to Harding. He knew Crawford wanted to take a gap year and was supportive of this decision.

“Brooks is adventurous, with the drive to complete anything he sets his mind to,” Yates said. “He is a risk taker and has passion for whatever he does.”

Passion often drives people to follow through on their ideas. A lack of passion is usually results in someone not doing something at all. For Crawford, passion was present in his decision.

“Travelling is a passion of mine because I have realized there's so much more out there to see, and I have the resources to go see it all,” Crawford said. “Anyone could do what I did.”

This decision was followed by a lot of intention and hard work. Over the eight months leading up to his trip, Crawford worked four different jobs to fund his travels.

“I didn’t have much free time leading up to my trip,” Crawford said. “I worked to save up everything I could in that time and was able to raise enough money to support everywhere I planned to travel.”

Jordan Sweeney, a sophomore electronic media production major, also knew Crawford from back home in Nashville. Although Sweeney thought that taking a gap year fit his spontaneous personality, she was still nervous about his travels.

“When Brooks first told me his plans to go to three different countries in three months, I wasn’t really shocked,” Sweeney said. “I was a little sad that he wouldn’t be moving to college at the same time as me, but I knew this was a dream of his. I was a little nervous, for his sake, going off by himself, but I knew he would make the most of it.”

Yates believed that Crawford’s gap year stories became an inspiring example to those who had seen his pictures or heard about his travels because it showcased someone who explored their passion.

“Brooks was very courageous and broke the expected social norms by exploring his interest in travel,” Yates said. “I believe it helped him get a lot of life experience, knowledge and some enjoyed rest from school before entering college that most people don’t get. I was very impressed that he traveled all by himself and lived day-by-day relying on God to provide for him while he was over seas.”

After graduation, Crawford plans to continue his travels and intends to travel the world.

“I know I will make it to all the countries I want to visit eventually,” Crawford said. “The world just feels much smaller now and the idea of world travel is something that I know can be accomplished.”