overcoming adversity and achieving dreams through higher education
CELEBRATE THE GROWTH OF THE CLASS OF 2026! You are cordially invited to attend the inspiring and memorable graduation ceremony for students of the UW Odyssey Project Class of 2026! Please join Odyssey staff, alumni, and supporters in celebrating students’ successful completion of six UW credits following two semesters studying challenging works of literature, American …
Eager faces. Tentative voices. Nervous laughter. Odyssey Beyond Bars (OBB) offers noncredit courses in the summer at Columbia, Racine, Taycheedah and Waupun Correctional Institutions. Each site’s offerings are slightly different, but the aim of the courses is the same: to help students feel more confident in their reading, writing, and discussion skills. A high percentage …
Across Wisconsin, Odyssey Beyond Bars (OBB) students marked academic milestones in large and small ways. At Waupun Correctional, one student held his certificate of completion over his head like a Super Bowl trophy. At Racine, a student choked up at a poignant moment in his five-minute personal story, the final project for his English composition …
In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus embarks on a 10-year journey home after 10 years fighting in the Trojan War. Twenty years of overcoming obstacles brought Corey Saffold from his Odyssey Project graduation in May 2006 to his UW Law School graduation in May 2026. “This voice to speak,” Corey notes, “this voice to be bold and to …
On May 18, students in full caps and gowns, diplomas in hand, turned their tassels and celebrated the completion of their degrees at Oakhill Correctional Institution. Governor Tony Evers congratulated the graduates, shaking their hands. The bachelor’s degrees awarded at Oakhill and Stanley Correctional Institution this spring are the first that any UW has awarded …
Mary Rouse served as Dean of Students from 1987-2000 as part of her nearly half century of employment at UW. As director of the Morgridge Center for Public Service, she worked to create mutually beneficial community-university partnerships and to find ways to help nontraditional students feel more welcome on campus. In an interview when she …
“Odyssey opened my mind, strengthened my confidence, and reminded me that it is never too late to grow, learn, and start a new chapter,” said Jackie (pictured left) of this year’s graduating class. This growth was evident as 29 students shared powerful words and inspirational experiences at the podium at the UW Memorial Union on …
Odyssey students who had Carrie Bohman as their Social Studies teacher at Madison West High School do a double take when they enter Odyssey’s classroom a few years later and see her twin, Odyssey’s academic advisor, Christine Cina. How did these first-gen twin sisters from a small town in central Wisconsin both end up with …
Although it has been over two years since Em lost her father, she continues to struggle to handle her parents’ estate. Holding back tears, she notes, “Before January 2023, I don’t think I could have told you one thing about what ‘probate’ meant, and now it’s something that I think about almost daily. If you …