Life is anything but conventional.
Like most of the Beacons who populate this campus, Darnell Crater has a storied past and an artistic drive that has brought him to the “Harvard of the Midwest.” A veteran of the United States Army (served from 2005-14) from Linwood, Ill, Crater’s innate passion and perseverance have been a driving force in both his academic and professional life.
“I have a musical theatre degree. I did two off-Broadway shows while I lived in New York City, countless plays and stuff like that, cruise ship as a singer and then fortunately while I was in the army I was in a band, so I was allowed to perform for nine years straight. I got to perform for a couple of presidents (George W. Bush and Barack Obama), [and] sing with Pearl Jam, Chaka Khan and Daughtry, so those were really fun experiences,” Crater said.
Regardless of Crater’s many successes, there was always an inclination for some greater self-fulfillment. And in many ways, it was Valpo that has helped fill the void.
“I like Valpo, I really do. I like the culture here. Obviously, being an artsy person, generally I hang around those people, but I will say that everybody in my classes, everybody has been accommodating and cool. Nobody has been weird about the ‘old guy’ in class, so that’s always fun. And I’m happy to see that I’m not the only non-traditional student that’s up there in years because education is important and whenever you can get it, it’s cool,” Crater said. “It’s never too late to go back, even though I have a [musical theatre] degree already but this is a new life that I wanted to have. I worked in management for a number of years and even though the salary was good, I hated it. It didn’t fulfill me, it was very depressing work, so I wanted to do something I was actually going to enjoy.”
As a senior music education major, on top of his heavy coursework and involvement in both Chorale and the Early Music Ensemble, Crater is student teaching at Hobart High School; living out a lifelong dream.
“Even when I was younger, even when I was in high school, I always thought I wanted to be a teacher. I just thought it was going to be after a 10-year Broadway career,” Crater said. “The plan was always to teach and teach at the high school level. It’s just, I thought I was gonna be a big star before I did it. Which, you know, I’m not a big star but I was able to accomplish a lot of things that I didn’t know that it would even be possible to do. I’m very happy with the choices that I have made. All in all, I’m very happy.”
Despite Crater’s busy academic and professional life, he still manages to find the time and energy for what is most important to him and the driving force behind his scholarly pursuit: his family.
“You persevere. If you want something, go for it and if the stars align and you work hard enough, then it will happen,” Crater said. “I have two daughters, 16 and 14, [a] junior and a freshman. The junior is driving, so that’s interesting. They’re both very tall, my oldest is about 6 feet tall, [and the] youngest one is right behind her. They live in Virginia, I get to see them as much as I can and we FaceTime a lot, pretty much every day. They’re cool kids.”
Even through the many unexpected turns his life has taken, Crater remains optimistic and is always willing and able to offer insight to those with reasonable doubt and insecurities. Embracing both the ups and downs, looking forward and not back, Crater continues to strive for excellence and purpose.
“I think it’s important that you find something that you like to do. Money isn’t everything in the world, and it took me a very long time to realize that because when I got out of the Army, I had kids so I just needed to have a job that made the most money to make sure that I [could] support my family. And then when I got that job, that was making all the money, I wasn’t fulfilled,” Crater said. “So, we have four years of school, more if you get a master’s, but just because school is over [doesn’t] mean learning is over. As you live your life, you’ll find what you like and then it’s never too late to do what you want to do. Never too late.”
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