[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]It is not everyday University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly serenades a class full of students.

Wednesday night, Reilly gave a lesson in Irish literature to Odyssey students, passionately reading a passage from James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and even singing an Irish-American tune about the revitalizing powers of whiskey.

The Odyssey Project, modeled after Earl Shorris' Clemente Course program, provides economically challenged Madison community members with a chance to start a college career.

Since 2003, the Odyssey Project has provided nearly 100 students with the opportunity to take an introductory humanities course for which they earn six credits in the UW Integrated Liberal Studies program.

"The world is full of all of these wonderful things that you don't know about unless you have the opportunity to come into contact with them through a project like this," Reilly said.

Odyssey students acknowledge the program has sparked a desire for knowledge and are unquestionably appreciative about the opportunities this program has afforded them.

"Not only Shakespeare's works, but a lot of novelists and writers' works I have read now have meaning, whereas in the past, they had no bearing in life," Daphne Daniels, a 2005 Odyssey graduate, said. "It kind of puts me in a different place now."

Grant funding and private donations have enabled these students — who range from high school dropouts to teenage single mothers — to receive free tuition, books and even childcare.

Most importantly, the Odyssey Project has given these students a second chance to accomplish something in life.

"It has opened up a whole new world for me," said Odyssey student Annette Bland, who is also the first person in her family to attend college. "Through the process of being a student and learning so much, I feel like a sponge in that I am collecting all the pieces I need to be successful in life."

Passing on a piece of his Irish heritage, Reilly reminded Odyssey students that great writers can connect readers to their own culture and the rest of the world — an idea of great importance to minority students who value keeping their own culture alive.

"I can sense a feeling of community and pride in the room," Reilly said. "Your commitment and your success is something I am very proud of and it is something all of you should be damn proud of."