Sojourner Scholars Summer Humanities Institute: The Odyssey Project's High School Initiative

FAIN: ZH-258468-18

Illinois Humanities Council (Chicago, IL 60603-4048)
Chris Guzaitis (Project Director: May 2017 to May 2024)

A Clemente Course in the Humanities for 25-30 Chicago high school students.

In the summer of 2016, the Odyssey Project piloted a summer humanities institute for high school students called Sojourner Scholars. Sojourner Scholars is a free college-readiness, college-credit earning program that provides students from four neighborhood Chicago Public School (CPS) high schools located on Chicago’s South Side the opportunity to take college-level courses in the humanities with local college professors over the span of three summers, beginning the summer following their freshman year. Students follow the Clemente Course in the Humanities curriculum and take courses in literature, U.S. history, philosophy, art history, and a capstone course that involves an intensive writing and research project. Students will complete a total of 110 hours of college-level classroom instruction and earn six fully-transferrable college credits in Humanities 100: Introduction to the Humanities from Bard College.

Media Coverage

SOJOURNER SCHOLARS ENTERS ITS SECOND SUMMER (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Chris Guzaitis
Publication: Illinois Humanities
Date: 5/21/2021
Abstract: Last summer, Illinois Humanities, under the direction of Audrey Petty, piloted a program called Sojourner Scholars, an intensive summer arts and humanities institute for high school students living on Chicago’s South Side. Sojourner Scholars is a free program that provides students enrolled at public high schools the opportunity to take college-level courses in the humanities with local college and university professors and earn college credits over the span of three summers, beginning the summer following their freshman year.
URL: http://www.ilhumanities.org/news/2017/07/sojourner-scholars-enters-its-second-summer/

'Be Black' (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Deanna Isaacs
Publication: Chicago Reader
Date: 11/8/2018
Abstract: The Time is Now! celebrates the artists of the south side who used their work as a vehicle for social change during the 60s and 70s.
URL: http://issuu.com/chicago_reader/docs/110818-small

SPACES FOR CHICAGO’S BLACK YOUTH (Media Coverage)
Author(s): JENNA PRZYBYSZ
Publication: Illinois Humanities
Date: 5/21/2021
Abstract: Where did spaces for Chicago’s Black youth go and why have they disappeared? Moreover, what defines these spaces and how have the current Black youth responded to this decline?
URL: http://www.ilhumanities.org/news/2019/09/spaces-for-chicagos-black-youth/

SOJOURNER SCHOLARS TRANSFORMS IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 AND THE BLACK LIBERATION MOVEMENT (Media Coverage)
Author(s): TOUSSAINT EGAN
Publication: Illinois Humanities
Date: 7/16/2020
Abstract: The Sojourner Scholars Program is an annual immersive, 3-week, college-level humanities program for high school students to promote intellectual growth, community, and civic engagement. Through a series of seminars covering disciplines such as philosophy, film studies, history, and literature, the Sojourner Scholars program nurtures students’ intellectual pursuits and support their emergence as critically-minded and creative citizens.
URL: http://www.ilhumanities.org/news/2020/07/sojourner-scholars-transforms-in-the-time-of-covid-19-and-the-black-liberation-movement/

How A South Side College Immersion Program Changed After George Floyd, COVID-19 (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Steve Bynum
Publication: WBEZ Chicago
Date: 8/24/2020
Abstract: Sojourner Scholars is a college immersion program helping Chicago South Side students. Reset finds out how the initiative upped its game to incorporate the Black Liberation struggle into their mission and meet the challenges caused by COVID-19.
URL: http://www.wbez.org/stories/how-a-south-side-college-immersion-program-changed-after-george-floyd-covid-19/464e3132-948e-4cff-85f8-240005fd7ad6

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