A new reality competition series wants to prove that ambition and integrity don’t have to be opposites.
Grand Rapids, Michigan studio Noble Story Co. announced Aug. 6 that applications are now open for TOP OF THE CLASS, a college competition show hosted by Jon VerLee, Calvin University’s entrepreneur in residence, that will award a full-ride scholarship worth up to $100,000 to the winner’s university of choice.
“We want the next generation to raise its expectations — not only for what they can accomplish, but for the kind of people they can become,” VerLee said in a press release. “Ambition and integrity shouldn’t be competing values. We want students to pursue both.”
That’s a notably different pitch than most reality TV competitions make, and it’s part of why Movieguide® pays attention to Noble Story Co.’s work. The studio has built a track record of projects meant to inspire rather than degrade, including this year’s documentary RUSH: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION’S INDISPENSABLE DOCTOR, which Movieguide® covered as part of America’s 250th anniversary programming.
TOP OF THE CLASS puts college students through a series of high-stakes challenges built around grit, sacrifice and character rather than backstabbing and manufactured drama. Contestants compete not just for a title but for scholarship money that could reshape the rest of their education. Every participant walks away with at least $1,000, regardless of where they land in the competition.
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Applications opened this week at totc.show and close Aug. 17. Eligible applicants must be at least 18 and enrolled at a college in the lower 48 states. Filming runs Oct. 10-18 in Grand Rapids, and Noble Story Co. says it will cover travel, lodging and food for contestants coming from out of state.
VerLee brings an unusual resume to the host’s chair. He’s the founder of Calvin University’s Startup Garage, where he serves as entrepreneur in residence, and a former youth pastor who has spent his career building technology companies for churches, nonprofits and small businesses. That mix of faith, mentorship and business savvy shows up in how the show describes its mission: turning contestants into “heroes” and role models rather than cautionary tales.
Reality television has a well-worn reputation for rewarding the worst version of human behavior, manufacturing conflict because conflict gets clicks. Noble Story Co. is betting the opposite approach can work just as well on screen.
“Our goal is to turn the normal reality TV competition show upside down,” the studio said in its announcement. “Instead of awarding cutthroat competition and moral dilemmas, we want to use this platform to create heroes out of college students and provide role models worth emulating for future generations.”
That’s worth watching closely. Christian parents have long worried about what reality TV models for young viewers, from broken relationships to public humiliation played for laughs. A series built around endurance, honesty and sacrifice, however it plays out on screen, is at least aiming somewhere better.
Noble Story Co. describes its wider mission as telling stories worth revisiting, ones that celebrate goodness, truth and beauty rather than tear them down. The company has also secured the rights to adapt bestselling author Andy Andrews’ novel The Heart Mender, a sign it’s building a slate well beyond this one series.
TOP OF THE CLASS doesn’t yet have a distribution date or streaming home attached to its announcement. Movieguide® will follow the series as casting wraps up and more details, including where and when audiences can actually watch it, become available.
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