overcoming adversity and achieving dreams through higher education
“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 …
COVID‑19 hit home for Odyssey last month as even our online Odyssey Beyond Bars classes were suspended due to the complete quarantine mandated to stop the rampant spread of the virus in state prisons. More of our Class of 2021 Odyssey students tested positive and grieved the loss of loved ones. Sunni wrote, “I was …
Despite unimaginable hardship, students in all four parts of our program — Odyssey, Odyssey Junior, Onward Odyssey and Odyssey Beyond Bars — have triumphed this semester as they learned with us online. Adults in the Class of 2021 brought to life Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, penned letters in the style of Frederick Douglass and imagined Ebenezer …
Throughout the summer, Odyssey staff and alumni have gathered online on Wednesday nights to keep learning, share heartbreaking experiences, and support each other during these unprecedented times. We have explored vocabulary words ranging from asphyxiation to heterogeneity, viewed art by Faith Ringgold, Frida Kahlo, and other artists of color, sampled songs by Aretha Franklin and …
Odyssey made history on May 6 with its joyous, first-ever online graduation ceremony. Read our blog about the ceremony here. We’ll share graduation highlights in our June newsletter; in the meantime find NBC 15 coverage, student readings, and more on our website. Dauntrea Vance says her life changed when she was only eight years old and accompanied …
In-person, lively, Socratic discussions in a classroom filled with laughter, shared meals, and plentiful hugs have been at the heart of Odyssey classes for 17 years. What should we do in a pandemic? How can we connect with students at the poverty level lacking computers? After delivering rented laptops and food to those in need …