Behind the Odyssey: How one college course is transforming lives

Emily Auerbach:

Tineisha Scott remembers running out of the house in the middle of the night with no shoes on, scared, hiding to get away from the abuse and drug use overrunning her home. As a young man, Corey Saffold found himself racially profiled. Sherri Bester suffered from PTSD and anxiety so extreme she got severe panic attacks during tests.

These three Madisonians faced personal struggles and obstacles that often seemed insurmountable. Fortunately, they also each encountered a class syllabus that included Plato, Whitman, Dickens, Shakespeare and Toni Morrison.

And they embarked on paths to success beginning in a classroom in the library on the south side of Madison.

Scott, Saffold and Bester are all graduates of the Odyssey Project, a free humanities course offered through UW-Madison's Division of Continuing Studies and English Department to adult students facing economic barriers to college. Each year, the Odyssey Project gives thirty students free tuition, textbooks and childcare--and access to life-changing discussions
of literature, philosophy, history and art led by UW
humanities faculty.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 25, 2013 1:18 AM
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