LORAIN – A summer break for most college students doesn’t usually involve walking the entire length of the United States.
Erin Herschelman, 19, of Lorain is doing just that.
Herschelman, a 2013 Elyria Catholic High School graduate who is attending Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., is using her summer to walk with a group of people in support of pro-life beliefs from Seattle to Washington, D.C.
Herschelman will return to Mercyhurst in the fall as a sophomore year majoring in accounting.
Herschelman was introduced to walking cross country from fellow student Nate Turner, who participated in the summer walk held by a pro-life group called Crossroads in 2013.
According to Herschelman, Crossroads got its start in 1995 after students from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, traveled to San Francisco, wrote ‘Pro-Life’ on T-shirts with a Sharpie and started walking to the nation’s capitol after Pope John II’s call to the youth of the nation to take the gospel of life to the streets.
‘I thought he was crazy for walking across the entire country,’ Herschelman said.
She said the idea of a cross-country walk stayed with her and she seriously considered participating in one.
Walking across the country was not a light decision, Herschelman said. After months of thinking about it and talking with friends and family detailing what it would involve, she said she applied to go on the summer jaunt.
‘I asked God if this was in his will for me,’ Herschelman said.
She said she felt this was a calling for her to participate in the trek and decided to take the leap.
‘I have always held very strong pro-life beliefs,’ Herschelman said. ‘The babies that abortion happens to do not have voices of their own. I walk to show support of this cause and to be their voice.’
Herschelman set out May 16 with six other walkers. They are followed by a recreational vehicle that they live in during the trip as well as a pace van. The group walks from sunrise to sunset during the week, taking the weekends off to visit churches on the route and have peaceful pro-life demonstrations.
‘Basically, we have seven people in our group, and at sunrise, a few people will go out to the location where we marked with GPS the night before,’ she said. ‘Out of the group, two will start walking, followed by the others in the pace van and the RV behind that. Every few miles we switch with the people in the van since we walk in pairs.’
One of the more memorable occurrences that happened on the trip so far happened was when the group was eating at Qdoba Mexican Grill in Sioux Falls, S.D., she said.
‘A man approached our group and introduced himself as Sen. Al Novstrup, Third District, South Dakota,’ Herschelman said.
Herschelman said that Novstrup directed them to a pregnancy crisis center where they could take their message to.
‘I was amazed and inspired by the wisdom, commitment and the involvement that they had in this issue,’ Novstrup said by phone July 25. ‘South Dakota has had a long history of being pro-life and I have a long history of being involved with that. The group reinforced what I already believed in.’
Herschelman said she has changed since she started the walk.
‘I have definitely become more focused on what is really important to me in life,’ she said. ‘Being on the road where I don’t have access to things like my laptop, I have more time to think about important issues, especially when I am walking.’
Herschelman said that she has become much more centered on building relationships with people and less concerned with material things and more appreciative of what God has given her in life.
The walk is scheduled to end Aug. 16 where the participants will meet with two other Crossroads pro-life groups and hold a demonstration in front of the Capitol.
