A decade later, The Experiment still shapes Bradford Holladay’s life

In 2016, Bradford Holladay participated in The Experiment in International Living’s Nicaragua and Cuba: Arts and Social Change program with the help of a scholarship. Ten years later, Holladay says he sees the huge impact the experience has had on his life. He currently works for The Boy Scouts of America and has co-founded an organization that fundraises to send students on an overseas trip—an initiative he said was inspired by his summer in 2016.

He reached out to The Experiment team to reconnect and share why the program has meant so much to him. Here’s what he had to say.

 

How did you learn about The Experiment, and what inspired you to do the program?

I learned about The Experiment as a student through my high school’s language program. I had been learning Spanish intensively, and our school had a partnership with The Experiment. Students could apply for a grant to attend an Experiment program if they met the proper criteria of language advancement and competitive application. I applied to attend the Nicaragua and Cuba program, primarily because I was fascinated by the chance to visit Cuba.

What were some of your favorite moments while on the program?

My favorite moments were the ones that challenged me to view the world in a different way. The Experiment was not only my first time traveling internationally in an immersive program, but it was also one of my first opportunities to interact with other American students from around the United States. In my cohort, I met students from New York City and Los Angeles and heard stories about their lives that were wildly different than my experience as a student in Nashville. I still keep up with many of my cohort members today, nearly 10 years later.

What do you do professionally now?

Following the Experiment, I went on to major in international business and philosophy at Pepperdine University in Malibu. I studied abroad at Fudan University in Shanghai and returned to my hometown in Nashville after graduation to pursue work in intercultural education. This led me to work with immigrant families in the area through the Boy Scouts of Middle Tennessee to establish the city’s first Spanish-speaking Scout Troop. I relied heavily on the Spanish skills I learned during my time with The Experiment to speak with families from Central and South America on a daily basis. Now, after several years with the Scouts, I primarily serve in a fundraising-focused role as a development director.

I am also the co-executive director of the organization United States of Adventure, which I co-founded in 2024 with a college friend who is also an international adventurer. We raise funds to give students a full-ride grant to explore the world and learn language skills, in a very similar way to what I experienced through The Experiment. I wouldn’t have attended The Experiment without scholarship assistance, so we set out to create similar opportunities for college students. We’ve funded 12 students so far to travel abroad (with three hiking the Camino de Santiago right now!) Our students are learning the same lessons I learned firsthand through The Experiment, and it’s so exciting to see how much they grow by experiencing the world for the first time on their own. We’re aiming to send a student from all 50 states over the next few years.

What lessons did you learn while on The Experiment program that guided your career?

My Experiment experience was 10 years ago, and, in many ways, it’s still guiding my professional decisions. The biggest lesson I learned on program was not to be afraid of exploring unfamiliar places. In fact, exploring is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, and as long as you’re sufficiently prepared, it’s incredibly safe.

The confidence I gained through the program gave me the courage to move from my hometown in Nashville to Los Angeles, then to Shanghai, and eventually to backpack through other parts of the world, primarily solo. I learned through the program that I can build community anywhere. After all, once you prove you can thrive in an environment where no one speaks your language, as a high schooler no less, what can’t you do?

You’ve traveled to dozens of countries over the past decade. Can you tell us more about those trips?

Since The Experiment, I’ve traveled to 37 countries. Whenever I had the opportunity to work, study, or visit new parts of the world, I’d work hard and save the money to fund a trip. The Experiment taught me that traveling is inherently educational, and the price of a plane ticket is the cost of tuition.

Following high school, I backpacked Europe with some of my closest friends. We were 18 years old at the time, and we self-directed a journey, staying in hostels and Airbnbs and riding the rail system. It was a coming-of-age journey in many ways, and I grew deeply from the experience.

My most memorable traveling experience was to Mongolia in 2019, right before the global pandemic. A classmate of mine from Shanghai and I rented an off-roading ATV and spent several days driving the tundra, where we stayed at nomad camps at nightfall for shelter and warmth. In a country that felt incredibly foreign to me before I visited, the trip was spontaneous, cold, and beautifully authentic.  I’d love to return one day.

Would you recommend The Experiment to high schoolers today?

Absolutely. It’s amazing how much you can grow in just one summer. I could never have anticipated that nearly every step of my academic and professional journey has been made possible by skills I learned in the jungles of Nicaragua as a 16-year-old.

 

To explore all of The Experiment’s destinations, click here.