The Dream Bus: Local Roots, Big Impact

In the coming weeks, the parking lot of Cornwall Elementary School will change dramatically. The vacant school bus currently parked at the school will transform from a typical school bus to a Dream Bus that grew out of the imagination of Lena Jacobs ’17.5.

Having received grant money from MiddChallenge and the Future Project, the Dream Bus, which will be constructed as a mobile classroom, will stop in 12 cities at various high schools and community centers across the country this summer.

As Jacobs describes it, the Dream Bus is “a collaborative space for people to pursue projects of any type.”

Jacobs’ idea for the Dream Bus sparked from her previous involvement with the Future Project, which is a national campaign focused on promoting entrepreneurial skills in young people. The Future Project trains dream directors, who embody the organization’s mission, to partner with various high schools, and implement a specific curriculum that fosters creativity and unconventional learning.

Participating in Future Project One, in which she proposed her idea to various business executives and dream directors, Jacobs describes her experience as transformative.

“I all of a sudden realized that there were people that were older than me…that could help me. And I ran home that day because I was so excited about what the potential for why my school year could look like...and the idea that realizing a dream, and that anything is possible was so real in my mind that I literally couldn’t sit still,” Jacobs said.

After that unforgettable encounter, Jacobs became further drawn to the Future Project and the impact it has on the schools it gets involved with. She specifically became focused on how she could give someone the opportunity to experience what had had such a positive impact on her.

Jacobs began to think about accessibility. The Future Project currently exists in 7 cities. By creating the Dream Bus, Jacobs is able to deliver the mission of the Future Project to more cities and therefore impact more students. With 4-6 rotating dream directors, 1 national dream director, and various community members on board, the Dream Bus is well-equipped to make an impact.

The process behind the Dream Bus is based off of the curriculum of the Future Project, and will go as follows. The bus will arrive at a given school or community center parking lot where students will be waiting to get on.

First, students will be asked what their process is, and then will workshop their idea with the dream directors on the bus to figure out what their next step will be.

Next, dream directors will redirect each student to community members on the bus, who are people that the Future Project has on the ground that can expose students to specific networks in their community.

Then, the student will continue to further develop his/her idea, until it is solidified and ready to be pitched to a camera. These videos will be posted on dream.org. Finally, the student will walk off the bus and take part in the knowledge party, which is meant to celebrate the beginnings of an idea.

In addition to Jacobs, the Dream Bus team is comprised of architecture studies majors Brandon Gell ’16, Morgan Raith ’16.5, and Josh Epsy ’17.

As the architecture advisors of the project, Gell, Raith, and Epsy spend a lot of time thinking about how the mission and function of the Dream Bus can be complimented and bolstered by the design and layout of the bus.

“As architectural studies majors at Middlebury,” Raith said, “we are often asked to consider all of the psychological, environmental, and specific implications of what you do when you implement an intervention into a space…so having that mindset, and that ability to think of people in that space in that way- of how will people interact with space- is sort of where we come in.”

ell continues by saying, “we want the design of the bus to reflect the process in which students are moving their ideas forward. So a very important part of the bus will be a space in which students can talk to each other, and also talk to dream directors. So there will need to be a pretty large table that is versatile. And then moving off of that, there will be a couple of work stations. Also, there will be a large portion of the bus will be designated to sitting space. Like a couch, or a hangout spot because that’s where most amazing ideas come to fruition. And then we will have another spot where once a student is done developing their idea, can go to pitch their idea to a camera.”

For Epsy, he sees his role as an architectural advisor as in charge of creating “the vessel through which we show kids that their ideas and their ambitions have real merit.

When asked about whether this process allocates enough time for students to create an idea, Jacobs responded confidently, by saying, “I do just because I was given split second moments, and that was all I needed. If you’re with the right people, at the right space, at the right time, and everything around you just feels like the right energy, it’s totally possible. It’s happened to me, it’s happened to my friends, and I’ve seen it happen to other kids I’ve been speaking with too.”

Epsy further accounts for what may off as far-fetched in the eyes of skeptics.

“I know that this all sounds a little bit idealistic, and I think it is in some ways, and that’s beautiful, that’s the wonder of this project, but these kids are amazing. And they do amazing projects, and they really execute…so it is a big dream, yes, but it is becoming a reality. And that is why I am so excited about this project.”

The team also reflected on how the process of making the bus into a creative space has stimulated creativeness within them.

On the innovativeness and self-empowerment the bus is meant to motivate, Epys summarizes, “a lot of this bus is about allowing students to realize that their dreams matter, their ambitions matter, and that these are concrete ways that they can start to follow those passions.”

Gell then reveals how this process has directly impacted him.

“The dream bus,” Geil explains,” is doing exactly what it’s doing to these students to me. The bus for us, along for those getting on it, is about applying your education rather than just brushing it on.”

Raith agreed and further stated that “having the opportunity to envision [the bus], and sketch [it] up, knowing that it’s actually happening is really empowering.”

Jacobs further articulates how her idea of thinking outside the box is exactly what she wants to inspire in the students that walk on the bus.

“So that idea of reimagining places that are dark and dreary for students, whether that’s your school or a school bus, or a certain aspect of your life” Jacobs explains, “is just really inspiring to students, and I hope that we can show a lot of students across the country what that looks like.”

Raith continues with the notion that much of this project is taught by example.

“I think just the presence of a student-run, organized developed, executed project like this bus is kind of a model for inspiration,” Raith said. “Showing these kids that change happens from the ground up, not top-down. We have the power as young people to create a shift. We can be the change that we want to see.”

Gell agreed with this sentiment when saying that when each kid who steps on the bus will think “if I put my mind to something I can do it. Just like these kids put their minds to something and built this bus. It’s entirely supposed to be inspirational. You know maybe this idea is a miss, but the other one is going to be a hit.”

Just as the bus exudes creativity from all avenues, it also promotes community at various scales and within different spheres.

For the students who the bus is meant for, the community directors present students with local networks and opportunities that can be utilized long after the Dream Bus has left.

As Jacobs explains that after the bus leaves, “the people that stay are [the students], and all of the community directors that [they] know can help [them]. So we are sourcing these people locally…we are allowing students to connect with people, and say, ‘it’s now your job to continue these connections.”

Raith adds, “I think its going to do a lot to open kids’ eyes to help them realize that their resources are wider than just the classrooms that they walk into the morning. By showing kids that by reaching out to the community members close to you, by people around you who inherently care about the posts they are in, and will therefore care about you, is going to be far more successful that you maybe get frustrated with.

At a national level, the team hopes to mark trends and create a broader network of entrepreneurs.

“Our hope is,” according to Raith, “that we are going to be able to match interests across certain regions. And start creating a platform for private investors, companies, to sort of look at these young entrepreneurs and see what they are up to, and latch onto these creative minds, and give them an outlet for what they are thinking about.”

Further, the video component to the bus, where anyone can log on and watch what the students on the bus are creating, will also help inspire students nationwide.

Epsy explains that the video project tells students, “ ‘you matter. Your ideas are important, and your ideas are realistic. We can make this happen. And you have peers doing similar things. So if they can see where the bus has gone, and if they can see all of these cool projects popping up all over the nation, in this wave of creativity, that’s a really powerful experience.”

Community has also been important for the Dream Bus team itself as they get their project under way.

For starters, Cornwall Elementary School was the only place to agree to allow the team to park their bus while it is being renovated.

Jacobs comments that Abi Sessions, the principal of Cornwall “was incredibly supportive of the idea and has been really helpful thus far.”

In return for the support that Sessions has offered, the team plans to host their first event with Cornwall elementary school students. In addition, Benjamin Vessa, owner of the Right Fix since its founding in 2009, has helped the team solve mechanical problems as they have come up along the way.

“It’s good to help out the local community,” Vessa began “and it’s good for kids to learn. It’s a great opportunity to help teach.”

Employers at Sherwin-Williams also have donated paint supplies, and offered their time to help the Dream Bus team with the construction process.  Matt Parker, a sales representative at Sherwin-Williams, explains his commitment to the project.

“I feel very strongly that this is a project worth being involved in, and I really appreciate being given the opportunity to help Lena and the rest of the team.”  Therefore, just as community leaders on the Dream Bus will be instrumental to students in forming local connections, so has the local Vermont community been vitally important to helping the Dream Bus team realize their goal, and get their idea off the ground.

As Epsy phrases it, “we’ve already had tremendous support from a few companies doing donations and sponsorships and giving of themselves to help this project go through. That’s huge because they understand the merit of this project, and they understand that they can be a part of something that is much bigger than a school bus. It is a chain reaction that is going across this country. And so we are so appreciative of their support, and are very encouraged by the support from the community we are getting so far…. part of this project is about building a coalition to do this project.”

With renovations hopefully done by June 20, and the tour set to leave by June 22, the Dream Bus inspires all who come into contact with it.
Further, it is clear that the Dream Bus is not only for local communities, but also a product of our own.

As Epsy phrases it, “don’t wait to jump in when the bandwagon is built. Help us build this bandwagon.”