Here in Odyssey, we give our students a wide variety of unique college opportunities. Odyssey works with Pikes Peak Community College which allows you get high school credits and college credits. Many students have different college experiences, but every student has the chance to graduate high school and get their Associates Degree if they are willing to put in the work. In your freshman year, you work with your councilor to decide your plan; you decide what you want to be when you’re older, and pick a degree you will work toward, and the best part is if you have a C or above you don’t have to pay anything for the college classes. Most of our students: junior, or even sophomore year, start taking most college classes on the PPCC campus.

High schoolers taking college level classes at an actual college campus sounds crazy right? Most people believe we wouldn’t be mature enough for that or even be able to handle it; However, our students handle it very well. I would think that transitioning from high school to college would be scary.I interviewed 4 students who are off campus and asked them about the transition and how they feel about this opportunity. I asked the students if they personally thought it was scary,

One of the students going there, Kassandra Martinez, said it was scary. Lenisa Couch says that it still is. We do have a couple students, who say it wasn’t that way.

Lovie Fairbanks tells us, “It wasn’t scary at all, I was very excited for my first day…”

Going from high school to an actual college campus is probably very difficult, stressful, and confusing. I asked them how they felt about the transition and how they dealt with the stress and difficulties.

Lenisa answered, “college is way different from high school. You have to rely on the syllabus for due dates. I handled it by figuring out how to be more independent.”

Kassandra stated, “It was very hard, it’s hard when you go from knowing everyone at school to barley knowing anyone. But I got through it by making some friends…”

Sarah Banfield said that, “The transition was hard just because I don’t know people, but I got through it by keeping to myself.”

Lovie tells us, “the transition wasn’t hard, but it was different. Only being in class for 3 or 4 hours then having the rest of the day free was weird.”

In Odyssey teachers are always telling us how difficult college work is. They work on trying to prepare us for the work load. I questioned whether the work was as hard as our teachers kept telling us.

Lenisa told us, “It is stressful, I have multiple assignments due daily and it’s hard to find time to do homework outside of school and work.”

Kassandra had a different view, “It isn’t stressful because we have a lot of time and it’s easy to keep up with but once I start procrastinating is when it becomes overwhelming.”

Sarah says, “The work can be stressful if you don’t use time management.”

Lovie stated, “I love the college experience because the campus is so diverse; you see different ages, cultures, it is an amazing opportunity that others take for granted.”

The PPCC campus has about 20,000 students. That’s very different from a couple hundred people on a high school campus. Do the college students stay close to Odyssey people, or have they made new friends?

Sarah told us, “I haven’t really made any new friends.”

Lovie states, “I haven’t made “friends,” but I talk to quite a bit of them. I’ve made study buddies, so we ask each other questions.”

Kassandra said, “Yes, I’m a very talkative person so I just ask them how they did something, if they want to study together, or even feedback on my work.”

Lenisa also told us, “Yes I made a few friends.”

Our school is always going to keep giving students the opportunities that it did for Kassandra, Lovie, Lenisa, and Sarah. What advice would the on campus students give to other students who will be going off campus in the next few years.

Kasandra said, “Don’t be scared. it isn’t as bad as it seems, you’re going to have a lot of free time to do your work, and as long as you keep up with it, you’re guaranteed to do great.”

Lenisa says, “Learn some independence. Professors wont spoon feed you and it’s a wakeup call to the real world.”

Sarah tells us, “always be open to being helpful or receiving help from people.”

Lovie also stated, “My advice is to prepare now, while Mr. Berry may seem “strict” he is almost like most of your teachers. Take everything teachers say about study habits, responsibility, and time management, seriously.”

Odyssey gives a great opportunity to so many people who want to get a head start on their future; It gives an environment where all students are focused on their school work so we don’t have a lot of fights, drama, or bullying that goes on. Also, I’ve noticed our teachers are more focused on helping us succeed then I’ve ever seen before at any other school. I love going to Odyssey ECCO because of the amazing people, teachers, and opportunities.