overcoming adversity and achieving dreams through higher education
“We often search for scars which lay bare on the outside, never considering the more hurtful scars present on the inside. Having served nearly 25 years of incarceration, I know firsthand that the hidden scars are the ones that can hurt the most . . . In reading this, I found myself reflecting on how …
“Parenting doesn’t come with a handbook. And a lot of times our parents only gave us what their parents gave them, and so this is an opportunity for us to learn things that we didn’t necessarily receive from our parents.” — alum from Parenting Inside Out, a nationwide program for incarcerated parents Five million children …
“I never thought I’d ever be a writer. I wasn’t even good at writing letters. But then I took English 100, and wow, it really helped my communication and writing. I have overcome my fear of reading in a group, too. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to finish what we started, but man, …
“He who opens a school door closes a prison.” —Victor Hugo Spring 2021 is a time of triumph and hope for UW’s students in prison. After enduring outbreaks of COVID-19, long periods of lockdown and the suspension of classes, things are starting to open back up again. The infection rates are dropping and students have …
“I am forever grateful to Odyssey,” Josephine Lorya remarks in a new video created for virtual services at a local church taking up collections for Odyssey and Odyssey Junior. “Odyssey opened up many doors that I never would have thought possible,” she adds. Josephine explains in her cell phone video how Odyssey’s help with books, …
“I’m a very shy person, and I think working with Baron will help me overcome barriers and stop being in my shell,” Barbara writes. Every year since 2003, theater professor Baron Kelly has flown to Madison to excite Odyssey students about drama from Shakespeare to August Wilson. This year was bittersweet: Baron was right here …
“I arm wrestled racism until a vein was about to pop,” Corey begins his poem. Denise describes a woman triumphing over the heartbreak of teen parenthood and domestic abuse. Marilyn writes, “In February I found myself without a roof over my head; like some young people would say: ‘Just straight up homeless.’” Find these and …
“In my role as the success coach for Odyssey during this pandemic, I have never witnessed so much suffering among marginalized populations,” notes Brian Benford. Just elected alder for Madison’s sixth district, Brian graduated from Odyssey’s Class of 2007 and went on to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work from UW–Madison. Brian …
“Jean Feraca epitomizes the Wisconsin Idea as well as the ideals of the Athena Award,” a nomination letter reads, as “she has demonstrated excellence throughout her career as a broadcast journalist, creativity in her work as an author, initiative in her cofounding of the transformational Odyssey Project and in her work in Wisconsin’s prisons, and …
“To Corey Saffold, who graduated from the Odyssey Course in 2006, the class’s humanities focus was critical. “You really begin to find your voice in those moments because you’re inspired by [them],” he says of the times the class read Plato, Shakespeare, Thoreau, and Martin Luther King Jr. He believes everyone needs the humanities, even …