Welcome To Odyssey

Dear Odyssey Families,

It is with great pleasure that I write you as the new Head of Odyssey School. I’m excited and deeply honored to lead Odyssey School forward, to build upon the strong foundation laid by my predecessors and by the entire Odyssey community.

Odyssey’s Mission to inspire independent success through accelerated academics and expeditionary learning is one I believe in strongly, right to the core, with eleven years of active involvement and lived experience. Odyssey can be transformative in the lives of young adolescents, grounding them in an exceptional educational experience while fostering a vibrant, inclusive and nurturing community – a strong community, rooted in mutual respect, joy, and diversity. Our twin focus on accelerated learning and expeditions encourages in students the confidence to be both bold and independent in their thinking, to embrace challenges, and to strive for growth (exuberant growth!), be it in the classroom or on an expedition. Odyssey has built an outstanding foundation on these principles over the years, and I am excited to deepen and grow the success of this mission over the coming years.

Adolescence is a time of remarkable change, change we embrace as a gift, as natural, and as an opportunity. Part of what makes Odyssey so successful is our intentionally small learning environment, allowing us the ability to focus on the individual, to meet them where they are, and to understand them as a whole person. A strong community is an inclusive one, which embraces changes, celebrates diversity, and creates connections.

Robust institutions with strong missions likewise respond well to change. Odyssey’s combination of a small footprint and a strong guiding mission allows us to be nimble and to respond quickly to changes. We demonstrated this with our rapid and effective response to the exogenous shock of Covid-19, during which time Odyssey thrived with outdoor classes, solid academics, and growth. With each potential change on the horizon Odyssey’s fundamental strengths allow us not only to respond to change but to transmute it into opportunities!

I am delighted about our shared future and looking forward to the upcoming year, with a full enrollment of superb students and a dynamic calendar of phenomenal expeditions and events!

Sincerely,

Jon Hale

Head of School
[email protected]