From Madison Magazine, this cover story by the Odyssey Project’s Emily Auerbach explores the lives changed by one college course.

Meet one of Winter Local Lady GODIVA Honorees Emily Auerbach from the Odyssey Project. Emily is a University of Wisconsin professor who has dedicated herself to educating those who could otherwise not afford or have the confidence to continue their education. For the past 10 years, Emily has organized the Odyssey Project which provides a FREE 6-credit college course to adults below the poverty line. In this time she has served more than 280 students and given them the confidence to succeed in college.

“When this old world starts getting me down,” as the old song goes, and the usual antidotes — family, friends, writing, and music — can’t soothe my soul, I take comfort in knowing there’s one place I can always go that’s akin to being “Up on the Roof.” And that’s my annual engagement with the inspiring students enrolled in UW-Madison’s Odyssey Project. While I’m typically there with my colleague and collaborator, Professor Craig Werner, to talk about music and the Vietnam War, I always come away from those evenings awed and stimulated by the students and their insights. My encounter this past week was no exception.