When freshman Julie Averette answered the phone last spring, she couldn’t believe her luck. Elon had been her “first choice” since middle school, and now she would be able to attend, courtesy of the Odyssey scholarship. The scholarship, offered to students seeking financial assistance from diverse backgrounds, is only offered to 20-30 students per year.

“I hung up and started running around my house and screaming. It was so exciting,” Averette said.

But the path to her dream school would not be easy for Averette during her first year at Elon. Being a first-generation student from the neighboring town of Graham, North Carolina, Averette found it difficult to balance both her home and school lives.

“I struggled with going back home in the beginning of the semester. My family wants to see me and I live so close, so why not?” Averette said. 

However, Averette realized she wasn’t the only one in her situation when she met the co-director of the Odyssey program, Esther Freeman. 

“She’s someone who can relate to me because she also was a first generation student who went to a university really close to her home," Averette said. "Her family ... expected her to come home all the time and I feel like we had that connection, and I could share a lot of things with her and she would understand."

Freeman, who is re-locating to Atlanta with her family this month, has counseled dozens of Odyssey scholars like Averette who come from diverse situations. In an email, Freeman wrote that she plans to continue to counsel students in her own coaching and consulting business, Empowered Campus. 

“As a Board Certified Life, Career, and Business Coach, I am focused on coaching high school students, college students, and recent graduates,” Freeman said. “I work with clients to apply strategies that are proven to build confidence, find comfort in being their authentic selves and improve their mindset overall.” 

Her departure disappointed Averette, who “wanted to get to know her,” but Freeman acknowledged the Odyssey program’s continuation of providing resources to support Odyssey scholars in their endeavors. 

“The program will continue to grow, and I have no doubt that it will continue to be successful,” Freeman wrote. “As Dr. Angela Duckworth said at spring convocation, [Odyssey scholars] have an enormous amount of grit.”

One of the ways the Odyssey program is expanding is through the increase of scholarships offered to students. While endowments for some of the scholarships fluctuate between every couple of years, the program is offering 30 new scholarships to students for the 2018-2019 academic year.

Averette was touched by the program’s willingness to devote school resources through providing financial assistance to low-income families.

“I think it just shows that they want diversity. They want everyone to come to Elon, not just the people who can afford it,” Averette said. “Just to know that Elon has such a broad mind and open-mindedness, it makes me feel like I can call this place home.”

The Odyssey program will be directed by Marcus Elliott, the former co-Director of the program, for the next academic year.