Wildcat Spotlight: Brooks Crawford

Helping those who struggle or those who are accidentally overlooked in the crowd is a career that many strive for, and new Deep Run exceptional education teacher, Brooks Crawford, a man of many passions, has only that one goal in his mind.

   “Right out of college, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. I worked for a law firm in downtown Richmond for about three years. And I decided, again it’s a common trend for me, I wanted to help people,” Crawford said.

   The motivation to help people led Crawford to work as a prosthetist, a person who makes artificial limbs. He worked with an old college roommate behind the scenes in the medical workforce. His profession gave him ten years of satisfaction in watching individuals take their first steps. Though as the years set in, the feeling of burnout followed suit.

   “After a while, I think every job kinda gets old. So I wanted to move on and find something else to help people again,” Crawford said.

   When he was still in college, Crawford had taken a class on education. The ability to teach and help the young minds of the future resonated with him. After his career as a prosthetist ended, he set out to use his prior experiences to become a teacher. After completing a career switcher program, he was thrown into the busy life of a collaborative teacher.

   “Teaching, every day is new, every day is exciting, every day has its own challenges. So, I hope I don’t get burned out on this, but right now, I’m loving it because every day I have a new problem to solve,” Crawford said.

   Though a teacher’s paycheck might differ from a lawyer’s salary, the size of the check isn’t what drew Crawford’s attention to education.

   “I didn’t become a teacher for pay, and pay is not what motivates me. I want what’s best for students and I want them to do well. And that’s what’s rewarding to me,” Crawford said.

   His genuine need to help others led him down a path that has allowed him to experience nearly all of his passions all at once.