Austin Stumvoll
Picture this: A 28-year-old guy settles into the office life until a hip injury makes him question his trajectory. He resists change, but after enduring migraines and intense dreams, he recognizes God’s call to ministry. He resigns from his job and tells his boss he’s going to be a pastor—only, he’s choosing the wrong vocation….
Lane Stevens
“Adventurer” and “thrill-seeker” may not be typical descriptors of filmmakers, but for Lane Stevens (’17), they describe the very passions that drive him to film. Stevens grew up with a brother who shared his love for extreme sports. They spent their free time outdoors pursuing tricks and achievements. “I have an adventurous spirit,” explains Stevens,…
Luke Fletcher
“I have always been obsessed with cameras, taking pictures,” explains Luke Fletcher (’19) of his vocational calling. He first picked up a camera at age 6 and has been looking through a lens ever since. At age 12, Fletcher participated in a small film project as a minor actor playing with dogs. The 2nd Unit…
Bobby Orme
From Bobby Orme’s (’19) perspective, clear goals and unclear paths lead to a good life. They simultaneously provide stability and adventure in navigating opportunities, and they allow room for the power of faith. These are Orme’s tools for success. At age eight, of course, Orme had no way of knowing his career goal. He simply…
Alex Bartz
In the 1990s, Dallas, Texas nurtured its children on Disney entertainment. It wasn’t hard to do: Disney child stars ruled both small and large screens, attracting fans to join the fun in front of the camera. Alex Bartz (’18) was among those Dallas children who answered the call to act by accepting a role in…
Austin Lewis
Curiosity and charisma could be called natural prerequisites to a successful career in entertainment. For Austin Lewis (’14), these traits have fostered not only a career but lifelong involvement that started when he was five years old. That’s when he watched James Cameron’s and Jon Landau’s movie, Titanic. His world was never the same. Driven…
Liz Lustig
The traditional heart of a New England town is its library. Typically a Neoclassical building bedecked with narrow, wood-paneled halls and the scent of old stories, it marks the intersection between tangible history and fictional worlds. For a young dreamer, it makes the invisible real. Libraries lured Liz Lustig (’18) with the bait of books…
Caleb Natale
High schoolers can have high hopes in futures they cannot see. While some may eventually feel disillusioned, Caleb Natale (’17) found a way to turn his illusions into a successful career. The key, he says, is to recognize inspiration and capitalize on it. Inspiration first came to Natale when he was a kid watching ABC’s…
Brittany Polzella
Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” “I always wanted to make people either laugh or smile,” says Brittany Polzella (’17) of her childhood. Be it dance or theatre, Polzella pursued a platform that would…
Josh Kirkland
Watching Spider-Man (2002) swing through a city and defeat villains typically impresses eight-year-olds. They see that an ordinary person could become somebody’s hero. Or that movies can make anything possible. Or both. Young Josh Kirkland (‘17), bitten by the Spider-Man bug, became curious about how to tell video-based stories. He experimented with cameras and recordings,…
