We love supporting graduates of our two‑semester jumpstart program as they go on to earn two‑year, four‑year and advanced degrees. In the photo collage above, you’ll see five of our alumni who earned degrees in 2020 despite the pandemic. None of them got to walk across a stage, and some never rented caps and gowns for pictures.
Dauntrea (on the left, a graduate of our Odyssey Junior program) first started thinking about college at age eight in our childcare while her grandmother attended Odyssey. Dauntrea earned her UW bachelor’s degree in 2020 and now is applying for law school. Next to her is Mustafa, who also earned his UW degree in 2020 and has just been accepted into a UW doctoral program in occupational therapy. He escaped with his family from war‑torn Iraq. Both Marisela and Shaimaa (pictured with stethoscope) earned nursing degrees and are on the front lines now. Tiffany, who raised four children and served in the military after completing Odyssey in our very first year, has completed her bachelor’s degree and been accepted into a master’s degree program in architecture. The five faces in the collage represent just a small sampling of the nearly 500 amazing graduates of our program.
More of our alumni will receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees in May 2021, and we suspect those ceremonies will remain virtual. Please donate now to help us continue supporting more Odyssey students as they go on towards degrees and dreams that many were told would be impossible. We will have 35 more students join our alumni this May after completing their two‑semester online journey with us during the pandemic. Meet these remarkable individuals in our January Oracle.