Episode 39: Hollywood’s National Memory Master Trevor Dolden

Summary

Can homeschooling give students the freedom to pursue their passions? In this episode, Robert chats with Classical Conversations® Challenge student and former National Memory Master champion Trevor Dolden about his promising acting career in Los Angeles, California. Since first becoming interested in acting at nine months old, Trevor has gone on to play roles in short films, TV shows, and movies, including Monsters at Large, the Apple TV+ original show Mr. Corman, and the 2021 horror film Not Alone. After participating in his local Classical Conversations Memory Master program no less than seven times, Trevor competed in and won the 2021 National Memory Master competition, taking home the grand prize of $10,000. Here, Trevor shares how homeschooling gives him more time to audition and prep for roles, how his family has supported him along his journey, and advice for upcoming Memory Master participants. After the interview, Robert uses the classical tools of learning to explain the third-largest bank failure in U. S. history, and Will returns to his discussion of whether Ripple’s XRP token ought to be considered a security.

Quote

“Memorizing is something that I don’t enjoy still. But CC helped me with my memorization because I used to love to sing the history sentences, all those things, even the Timeline. And so, learning how to memorize when I was 4–5 years old has helped me now be able to memorize things in, you know, three hours or two.”

Trevor Dolden

Topics

• Intro to Trevor [0:47]
• How Trevor became interested in acting; his first acting gig [2:14]
• Acting opportunities living in Florida vs. Los Angeles [3:20]
• Trevor’s favorite roles [3:55]
• Trevor’s career goals [4:22]
• The types of roles Trevor is currently pursuing [4:35]
• The biggest challenge in acting: dealing with rejection [5:07]
• How Trevor’s family encourages and supports his acting career [6:04]
• Homeschooling gives Trevor more freedom to pursue his passion for acting [6:45]
• Trevor’s experiences with Classical Conversations and Memory Master [7:34]
• How Memory Master helped Trevor become a better memorizer [8:09]
• What else Trevor likes to do besides acting [8:58]
• Trevor’s advice for students participating in Memory Master or National Memory Master [9:42]
• What Trevor did with his Memory Master prize money [10:59]
• Dealing with the transition from Foundations and Essentials to Challenge [11:32]
• The biggest difference between Trevor’s Challenge A and Challenge B communities [12:20]
• Why debate is Trevor’s favorite Challenge strand [12:49]
• What Trevor is most looking forward to in the upcoming Challenge levels [14:15]
• Should other homeschool students pursue careers in acting? [12:43]
• Trevor’s final bit of advice for Memory Master participants [15:06]
• Farewell to Trevor [15:57]
• “Current Events Discussion”: Bank Failures: Part 1 on Fractional Reserve Banking [16:34]
• Ad: Practicum 2023: Registration is now open! [21:20]
• “Classical Crypto”: Is XRP a security? [22:42]
• Outro [25:42]

Mentions

• National Memory Master Competition | Classical Conversations
• Monsters at Large | IMDb
• Mr. Corman | IMDb
• Not Alone | IMDb
• Foundations | Classical Conversations
• Essentials | Classical Conversations
• Challenge | Classical Conversations
• Challenge A | Classical Conversations
• Challenge B | Classical Conversations
• “I Survived Mock Trial” | Classical Conversations Blog
• Trevor Dolden | IMDb
• Trevor Dolden | Instagram
• Signature Bank
• Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)
• Credit Suisse
• “Fractional Reserve Banking: What It Is and How It Works” | Investopedia
• XRP | Ripple