I cringe each time I see someone on Facebook complaining about why they left or could never write for Odyssey. As an Editor-In-Chief, I work extremely hard to help my team come up with new articles, we publish over 12 articles per week and I schedule meetings every two weeks. I am a full time college student, a college cheerleader, a writer for my school magazine and an editor. Throughout my week I work on hours of homework, cheerleading practice as well as football games, writing articles not only for Odyssey but also for my school and editing over 12 articles a week. Sometimes I also hire new writers and have to meet up with them to help teach them how to use the website and upload their articles.

"Why do I do it?"

Because contrary to what many people may believe, Odyssey is not only a great creative outlet for students but also an amazing resume builder. You're learning to work as a team. You help contribute article ideas to each other and motivate each other to write an article each week. You congratulate the writer with the most trending article of the week. You learn to take pride in your work. When applying to jobs after college, whether it's for a writing job or anything else, Odyssey looks great. For writers, you now have a portfolio. You have published work to provide to future employers. Being able to write anything your heart desires, you can write about current events, lifestyle, health, beauty, etc. Applying to any job and being able to say you published 1 article per week each week you were in college, regardless of breaks (summer, winter, easter, etc) is a valuable thing. It shows you have drive and work hard. More importantly, it shows your future employers that on top of being in college, you always made your deadline of 1 article per week. You may have been drowning in homework, balancing a job or just mentally drained but you still wrote every week. You're a dedicated, hard worker.

"It's not a real job. You don't get paid consistently."

If you are looking to get paid big bucks, Odyssey is not for you. Odyssey is for people who want writing experience, to get their voice heard and to express themselves. If you are only doing it for the pay, you're not passionate and won't enjoy it.

"It's annoying. I constantly see articles popping up on my Facebook newsfeed."

I have 2 suggestions. 1, unfollow or delete us because the articles are going to keep coming. 2, Join Odyssey and grace Facebook's presence with your own articles! :)

"All you talk about is Odyssey and trying to persuade more people to join."

I love my team. They are like my family. We always work together and write great content together. I feel like I really found my place in my Odyssey and I would love to share that with other students. It's really hard not to talk about when it's something myself and my writers are all so passionate about. It's a great opportunity to get your voice heard and build up your resume. It's also nice at the end of a long day to sit down, relax and write about whatever you want.

"No one reads the articles."

I'm about to shock you, so if you're standing I suggest you sit down. One of my writers wrote an article that received over 60,000 shares on Facebook. I cannot describe to you what it was like to see my friends in New Jersey and North Carolina (who don't know anyone at my school in Minnesota) sharing her article. It went viral. A few weeks later another one of my writers wrote an article that was shared over 30,000 times on Facebook! Imagine applying for a writing job and telling your interviewer that your article that you wrote as a college freshman was shared over 30,000 times. Think of how many people took time out of their day to read your article and the fact that it resonated so well with them that over 30,000 people shared it. Another article went viral and is still being picked up by newspapers around the country. Not only that but one of my own articles was actually recogonized by The Huffington Post. I can't describe to you how proud I felt to write that something that The Huffington Post took time out of their busy day to read.

The Odyssey is wildly successful for a reason. We write relatable, interesting and newsworthy content. We are driven, motivated and strong college students. We do homework for hours, go work part time jobs, go to sports practices and games, go on spring break and still write one article a week. Not everyone can balance their lives like that and commit but we do it. There are days where my team feels like throwing in the towel but we never do. Odyssey has taught me more about writing and teamwork than anything I ever learned in school.

Give it a chance, you won't be disappointed.