Mr. Crawford is a World History teacher that has been teaching at Freedom High School for two years.

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Crawford experienced the pressures of living in a prestigious college town driven by high class and academia. In spite of this, Crawford still enjoyed his time living in the city.

“Boston is great. It’s a huge college town – there’s Harvard, MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology], Boston University – but there’s also a very working-class element to it, so learning is very prized,” stated Crawford. “But there’s also a certain amount of humility that you get growing up in a place that’s so cold and so tough.”

As a recent graduate of social science education at the University of South Florida, Crawford had discovered much about the profession in the past four years.

“When I went to High School, I was in all AP IB classes, so I saw the same 30 kids in every class, and it was very isolated,” Crawford explained. “I noticed that the students [I teach] come from such a different world that I didn’t understand at first and I had to adapt to.”

Crawford believes that his father has inspired many of his decisions in life, describing him as a friend who he trusts to steer him in the right direction.

“My dad’s my best friend,” Crawford mentioned. “Any time I need advice, I go to my dad. He’s my go to for anything in life.”

Crawford has always been captivated by history and its relation to our understanding in the modern sense.

“I find history fascinating,” Crawford stated. “The longer we stray away from something, the more we are able to understand it and see it for what it was. For instance, we almost completely understand the fall of Rome, and we’re still figuring out the war in Vietnam, even though it’s a recent event.”

Another way that Crawford immerses himself in history is by through travel. His favorite country so far is Germany.

“There’s always been this stereotype that Germans are mean, but I didn’t find that to be true,” Crawford explained. “[Germany] is full of history, the food was fantastic, and the atmosphere was great. I really loved it when I was there.”

Outside of the classroom, Crawford is a book enthusiast and avid movie watcher. From time to time he also plays chess, another one of his hobbies.

As a history teacher, Crawford would be intrigued to meet any historical figure face to face, but there is one person that he would be particularly excited to meet.

“I would want to meet President Obama,” said Crawford. “Regardless of the current political situation or where you stand, his presidency is so influential, and so many things in the world have changed with his election.”