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| by A. David Dahmer |
| April 12, 2012 |
The UW-Madison Odyssey Project Class of 2011-2012
Many low-income adults have an intense yearning for higher education, but often have never been given a chance in life to obtain it. The purpose of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Odyssey Project, now in its 9th year, is to help people overcome obstacles and achieve those educational dreams.
“We're going to be breaking records this year in terms of attendance and completion,” says Emily Auerbach, a UW-Madison professor of English and director of the Odyssey Project. “This year all 30 students will be getting the full six credits with nobody getting an incomplete. That's never happened before.”
Auerbach leads the Odyssey Project English class, a yearlong project that is a six-credit class in the humanities and is designed to give adults who are facing economic barriers to education a chance to enroll as University Special Students and start college. From September to May, students in this rigorous humanities course meet on Wednesday nights at the Goodman South Madison Library to discuss great works of literature, American history, philosophy, and art history while developing skills in critical thinking and persuasive writing.
Students are accepted based on financial need and potential to successfully complete the challenging class.
And many of the Odyssey Students do face some very tough circumstances — some are living at the Salvation Army, some have lost their homes, some are in the middle of tough personal and medical crises in their lives. “But they somehow are managing — despite all of these obstacles — to get to class with their work done,” Auerbach says. “I find it incredibly moving and inspiring.”
The graduation ceremony for this year's students of the UW-Madison Odyssey Project Class of 2011-2012 will be held at the Great Hall of the Memorial Union on May 9. Auerbach and Writing Coach Marshall Cook will present certificates attesting to students’ successful completion of six introductory UW credits in English. UW-Madison Interim Chancellor David Ward will make congratulatory remarks.
Each year, 30 students tackle an interdisciplinary course in the humanities, diving into great works of literature, American history, moral philosophy, and art history, along with music and theater performances. They meet for three hours every Wednesday evening from September to May. Graduates have earned three UW credits in English literature and the humanities per semester and are supported along the way by Auerbach and by their fellow students.
After a few years of working to raise the money, Auerbach launched the Odyssey Project in 2003-2004. Nine years later, it is still going strong.
“We started the class just as the two-semester course and I think that the model I had in my mind was more [like] Berea College — the free four-year liberal arts college where you had to be poor to go there and both my parents got an education that way,” Auerbach says.
An Odyssey Project graduate celebrates with his family at a previous Odyssey Project graduation ceremony.
The Odyssey Project is modeled after the Clemente Course in the Humanities in New York City and Berea College in Kentucky. The philosophical basis of both institutions is that education can be transformative and should be accessible to everyone. Odyssey over the years has become much more than just a course... it's become a journey beyond graduation.
“When we finished the course, I realized that I just don't want the students to drop off a cliff,” Auerbach says.
Today, its focus is on keeping its graduates going and it now spends more of its budget on their graduates than on their current students. “We're helping them — whether they be at MATC or Edgewood or UW — fill in the gaps that financial aid does not cover and that includes things like textbooks, fees, supplies, or things like the GRE [Graduate Record Examinations], social work licenses, nurses uniforms,” she says.
Being accepted into Odyssey is like being accepted into a family. The support that this brings is so important to the student.
“Especially if you are the first in your family [to go to college] and you might not have a family around you that doesn't really understand why you are doing this — it's not putting instant food on the table, it's for the long-term,” Auerbach says. “Sometimes students come by this office just to get a hug because it can be lonely and discouraging going to school.”
As the Odyssey Project grows it has been playing an important role in putting a dent in Madison's minority achievement gap.
“It does affect the young people because what we've seen is that if you target parents or even grandparents it has a trickle-down effect on the whole family,” Auerbach says. “So, we have students in our class who may be in their 30s but they are reporting that their kids are doing better in school because they'll see their parents studying and want to be like them.”
The parents also get a little more empowered and eager to go to their children's school meetings and take a look at what homework is being given and to get more involved with their children's academic lives overall.
“I actually think we're missing a huge opportunity to address the achievement gap if we don't target parents and grandparents,” Auerbach says. “One of the best ways you can affect a child is to get their parents turned on to reading.”
Generous donors, campus and community partners, grants, and businesses have made it possible for Odyssey to exist.
“If we got some large foundation grants, we would be able to expand what we do to help our graduates,” Auerbach says. “I would like us able to give more in the way of financial support so students can keep going in school; more tutoring and counseling. I also wish that we had more help with the emergency fund.”
Auerbach recently started that emergency fund — Odyssey Project Inc. — a non-profit corporation to help pay for basic living expenses and special needs that students face along their journey.
“There are all these things I can't do with university funds,” she says. “I feel like it's terrible if we have a student that's on the streets or in the men's shelter. I can buy them 20 books but I can't help them get in a place through regular university channels. So, we have an Emergency Fund for if a student's mother dies and he can't afford a ticket to Chicago, we'll help out. The same way you would help your family.”
The Odyssey Project is already looking forward to their 10th anniversary celebration next school year. “We already have a date — Oct. 4. It will be at the Chazen [Museum of Art],” Auerbach says. “The Odyssey class is also being filmed right now and a 30-minute program will be aired on the Big-10 Network.”
Auerbach sees big things for the Odyssey Project in the future.
“My vision would be that in 10 years we would have Odyssey graduates teaching this course,” Auerbach says. “They would have their PhD.'s in different subjects and could lead the way. That would be neat.”
The graduation ceremony for students of the UW-Madison Odyssey Project Class of 2011-2012 will be held Wednesday, May 9, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Great Hall of the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street on the UW-Madison Campus
The evening will include brief remarks or performances by each graduating student; recognition of supplemental teachers Jean Feraca, Gene Phillips, and Craig Werner; acknowledgment of Odyssey Project donors and supporters; and music and refreshments.
For more information, visit www.odyssey.wisc.edu
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