Late start, indomitable finish

CLINTONVILLE – As he approaches 50, Gary Crawford is finding out just what he is capable of.
“One day I was talking to a co-worker, and she said we should go back to school. I’m like ‘man, I’m too old for that.’ It felt like it was a young person’s journey. But we just kept on talking about it and I was getting all hyped on it and finally I thought, ‘You know what? I should do it. I’ll never know if I don’t do it.’ And I took that first step,” said Crawford.
He decided to pursue a degree in IT. Before he could do that, there was one last item to check off the list: he needed to get his high school diploma.
“I devoted my life to music, which was a really deep passion of mine,” he explains. “I ended up leaving high school and playing bass guitar in bands, eventually touring regionally.” One of his bands, Burial Ritual, was founded in 2005 and was a player in the Midwest metal scene, gaining a loyal following.
Crawford enrolled at the FVTC regional center in Clintonville and took adult education classes This proximity was crucial for Crawford, since he was working 50 to 60 hours per week at Seagrave while he took his classes.

“I took my GED classes at night, and I’m so glad the regional center was there, because otherwise it would have been a lot harder for me to do it,” he says. “Plus, the people there were so supportive. I was learning subjects that I hadn’t taken in 20-plus years, so it was tough. When you start to self-doubt, you need that person from the outside looking in to say, ‘You can do this’.”
Next, Crawford tackled information technology. He became interested in tech when his parents bought him a 1980s Tandy computer from Radio Shack. “I loved that computer,” he said. “I’d be at it all night.”
He enrolled in the FVTC Computer Support Specialist associate degree program, taking most of his classes online. With the help of his family, instructors, and the FVTC Foundation, Inc. (he’s a four-time scholarship recipient), Crawford will earn his degree this December. He also started working in computer support at the North Star Mohican Casino.
He’s just getting started. He decided to add another degree in Network Systems Administration.
“It’s just a few more classes, so why not push it further?” he said. “Here I am, almost 50. I’m going to have my first associate degree. I’m going to be the first college graduate in my immediate family. I hope that inspires the nieces and nephews and my kids to get it together and go, because I did it too late in life. The light in the tunnel may seem really far, but you invoke the indomitable spirit inside yourself and just keep going.”