When I was first asked to apply to write for The Odyssey, I had no idea what it was. In the 11 months since then, it has become a household name. Almost all of my friends from high school write for their university Odyssey sites, and several articles are constantly floating on my Newsfeed. It's really incredible what The Odyssey has done already, what it will continue to do after I've finished writing, and what it will become in the future.
Call it bias since I am an Odyssey writer, but I truly believe that The Odyssey Online Magazine is one of the most important publishing outlets. I have several reasons for this claim, some of which my fellow Loyola University Maryland Odyssey writer Karl Dehmelt touched on in his article, "In Defense of Odyssey." Primarily, though, my reasons are observations that I have seen from myself and my fellow writers.
Free Speech for College Students
In college, everyone is a legal adult, but typically we're not actual adults. If we were actual adults, we would be a mess. So college is that nice little step in between adolescence and real adulthood. Part of adulthood is forming opinions, sharing your voice, and taking action. The Odyssey has provided just that outlet for thousands of young adults who are working on that part of adulthood. Frankly that's awesome all in and of itself because a free, casual, and exploratory outlet does not always exist for students.
Connecting People
Not only are Odyssey writers able to spread their ideas and truths, but they also have first access to all the new content. For Loyola's Odyssey, we often talk to each other about what our topics will be for the upcoming week, or if we're stuck for a topic, we help each other out. The array of people on staff alone that all band together to help each other out is really incredible. Now it's true that we don't always know each other by face (I just met my editor for the first time last week!), but we always know each other my content and generated ideas. Honestly, I really prefer knowing someone that way because it gives so much more depth to them.
Perfecting Writing
Not everyone on the Odyssey staff is a writing student. The fact that so many of our incredible contributors are "average" students speaks volumes about the goals, values, and benefits of The Odyssey. Writing full length, published articles is a real task that requires genuine skills. Doing it every week (sometimes twice a week depending on the schedule) refines these skills and makes our communication more effective.
The Odyssey Online is "THE NEXT BIG THING."
My managing editor wrote this to us in an email because he was incredibly excited about how quickly Odyssey is expanding. A LinkedIn article has declared Odyssey "The most exciting company...since Buzzfeed." The massive amount of funding recently devoted to the Odyssey's development means that there will be more writers, articles, and ideas shared across social media.
It's incredible to think about really. I was able to write for an up-and-coming company, one that will be as big as Buzzfeed someday, when I was just a sophomore in college. My friends who continue writing for Odyssey have so many exciting opportunities to look forward to, the growth of a company right underneath their fingertips. Writing for the Odyssey Online, an outlet that boosts students' confidence and the generation of ideas, means that you are incredibly accomplished.
