For Jelissa Edwards, the journey from high school to college graduation seemed clear. However, during her first semester in technical college, an unplanned pregnancy changed the timeline she had to pursue her degree.
Five years later, she discovered the UW Odyssey Project.
For the past 14 years, the UW Odyssey Project has helped non-traditional adult students like Edwards receive a college education, despite the various barriers they may face.
Every year, the Odyssey Project gives 30 adults the opportunity to take a humanities course taught by UW-Madison faculty members, receiving six college credits in the process. Odyssey provides free tuition, childcare and textbooks to all students.
The two-semester course is designed to aid low-income students—most of whom are minorities—begin their college education. Dozens of Odyssey’s former students have gone on to complete college degrees, and approximately two-thirds choose to continue taking courses at the college level.
Among those continuing their studies is Edwards. She enrolled in technical college directly after high school, but dropped out after becoming pregnant. Earlier this year, she completed the Odyssey course.
“I read about how [Odyssey] helps low-income students get back into school, especially those who started out in school, and then life happened, and they dropped out,” Edwards said.
Once enrolled in the class, she said she immediately felt inspired to continue her education. Returning to school after a five-year hiatus, she found a place of belonging.
“The other students were trying to find an outlet and trying to do what is not expected of them,” Edwards said. “You learn that a lot of students are just like you.”
Odyssey Project Director Emily Auerbach said that sense of community is one of the goals of the course.
“My favorite part of running the Odyssey project is witnessing students as they engage in discussions about literature and history and philosophy and discover they have a voice,” Auerbach said. “Students tell us that they become excited about learning and about their future.”
Two decades of work with non-traditional students under her belt, Auerbach joined forces with Jean Feraca, a Wisconsin Public Radio talk show host. Drawing inspiration from a similar New York program created by late teacher and author Earl Shorris, they founded a program to make the arts more accessible at UW-Madison.
Since its start, Auerbach said the project proved successful for all students, regardless of demographic barriers.
“We want to get people who may have gotten sidetracked on their college journey, or may have thought they weren’t college material, and help them all the way to the end,” Auerbach said. “We have students who have gone from being homeless to having master’s degrees.”
Edwards, who is now studying toward her associate degree at Madison Area Technical College, said the classroom environment was what made Odyssey so special.
“In that classroom, you could see no division,” she said. “Everyone was there in support of each other.”
Soon, younger students will have a greater chance to experience that environment.
Now with the help of a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the project plans to expand Odyssey Junior, a program encouraging economically disadvantaged children from ages two to 18 to reach their potential through a humanities-based course.
Available for children and grandchildren of participants, the Odyssey Junior program aims to encourage students to develop their interests by providing books and program scholarships.
Auerbach said the expansion will help “whole families become more hopeful about their futures.”
“Odyssey Junior is pioneering a multigenerational approach to breaking the cycle of poverty through the transformative power of the humanities,” she said.
The expansion, she explained, allows Odyssey Junior students to gain the same “sense of pride” their parents gained from the program.
Edwards was quick to echo Auerbach’s sentiment.
“You make up all these excuses for why you can’t or shouldn’t do it,” Edwards said. “Odyssey gives you the drive, the motivation … to say you can do anything you put your mind to.”
