Alexis Irvin (left) and Chip Hiden (right) screened have screened their documentary at nearly 90 colleges, including MBC.
Olivia Samerdyke, Editor-in-Chief
The dictionary defines “success” as “the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.” That definition aligns with the traditional path students are encouraged to follow—good grades, college, a 9-5 job, and money.
Recent college graduates, Alexis Irvin and Chip Hiden tried that path, but were not happy, and decided to turn their dissatisfaction into something meaningful. They came up with the idea to go on a road trip to interview people who did love their jobs and film them for a documentary. The result was “The Dream Share Project,” a 10,000 mile, coast-to-coast journey, and an hour-long, inspirational documentary screened at MBC on February 12.
“The easy path didn’t work for them,” interviewee, Anne Headley said.
MBC students joined Julie Chappell from the Sena Center to watch the movie and participate in a “Chase Your Dream” workshop to help participants find their dreams and avoid “paralysis by analysis.” For people beginning to plan for their future, two of the biggest challenges are fear and money, and while fear can be irrational, money is definitely a practical problem, even encountered by Alexis and Chip during their project. It was cited as a worry by most workshop participants.
Still, nearly every person interviewed for the project encouraged viewers to take risks and think about their happiness and satisfaction rather than just salary.
“Be adventurous,” TV producer Terry Lickona urged.
Part of that adventure is taking a risk and finding one’s dream. The admonition to dream and set goals came up over and over again during the interviews collected by the documenters. Sometimes even before fear and money challenge students, they struggle to find a dream. Participants of the “Chase Your Dream” workshop occasionally cited this problem.
Chip suggested that they “Look at childhood dreams as indications of interest.”
For example, a child who played school a lot and liked to argue might grow up to teach law, like Nghana Lewis, who was interviewed in the documentary. Another child, whose ambition was to become a goddess, might lean towards creative writing in the future.
Many unexpected doors wait to be opened by the millennial generation, and Alexis and Chip plan to keep exploring and helping students chase their dreams. Another documentary may even be in the future. The pair has a book coming out in July by Running Press. Entitled “Build Your Dreams: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love,” it teaches just what it says.
For more information about the Dream Share Project, including the screening schedule, check out their website at http://thedreamshareproject.com/.
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