The Odyssey Peer Mentor Student Association allows students to engage in fun activities like coloring and Karaoke, and opportunities to help each other and better the community. Odyssey is a program that matches incoming freshmen and transfer students with upperclassmen in their major or discipline. The upperclassmen, as mentors, serve as a resource for new Kennesaw State University students to learn about the school, the many resources available to them and act as positive role models. Incoming students are given opportunities to engage in the KSU community and are challenged to set goals and utilize campus resources.
The Odyssey Peer Mentor Student Association has been at KSU for over a decade with four basic goals: to provide students with a support group of peers with similar experiences and challenges, to assist students with developing the skills they need to be successful in college, to develop a positive outlook and relationship with the various student development offices and to be able to know how to access those resources and to make the Odyssey Peer Mentoring Program better.
Students in the organization work together to benefit each other and the KSU community. Currently, Odyssey has begun an initiative to raise money and awareness for the Flint Michigan crisis. The motto is: “Odyssey is the opportunity to pass along the best of your knowledge and skills to someone who will one day be able to pass that along to someone else.”
During the 2014-2015 school year, over 750 students were served through mentorship. That number has nearly doubled in 2015-2016. KSU students who participate in Odyssey are more likely to make it to graduation with 83 percent of underclassmen and 96 percent of mentors re-enrolled the following semester. Students are matched one-on-one and are required to meet at least once every two weeks on campus or via phone or Internet. Students are also required to attend a minimum of two Odyssey hosted events a semester. According to some Odyssey members, the events may be the best part of the student organization.
Heather Eustis-Fillion, who served as the events coordinator last year and continues to serve as a mentor this year, says that the social events “allow mentors and mentees to meet each other and to network with people in similar situations as you. The events are also a safe environment for students to socialize, which is especially important for mentees new to KSU.” Eustis-Fillion also loves the coloring events, usually held in the Carmichael Student Center, room 261. The coloring sheets and crayons provided by Odyssey are a nice way to distress and relax, Eustis-Fillion said.
Other Odyssey events have included a day to make Valentine’s Day cards for the elderly and Karaoke night with food and door prizes. All the events are created and hosted by the Odyssey Peer Mentor Student Association with the goal of engaging students in the positive culture at KSU. Holly Summers, who serves Odyssey as student assistant to the Faculty Coordinator, says that the events “are the best way to encourage interaction and to make people feel welcome.” She also likes that Odyssey creates opportunities for students to meet other students at different stages in their academic career and to learn from them.
Both mentors and mentees agree that there is really no downside to joining Odyssey. It will enhance the college experience and provides opportunities for every student to make a positive impact on the KSU and local community.
