For an immigrant with dreams of a college education, a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and help from University of Wisconsin’s Odyssey Project made it a reality.

Josephine Lorya-Ozulamoi immigrated to the United States with her family as a refugee from South Sudan. She then moved to Wisconsin where she first heard about the Odyssey Project while working at a salon braiding hair.

Unsure how she would be able get an education because of the struggles she had faced, she took a chance and applied.

UW’s Odyssey Project is a program helping adults facing economic barriers to pursue a college degree through a series of humanities classes. The program allows 30 students every year to receive benefits such as free tuition, textbooks and meals. Additionally, it provides extra support if students decide to continue their education.

“The program has instilled a lot of hope in me, that you can come from nothing and make yourself into something,” Lorya-Ozulamoi, a student in the 2008 Odyssey class, said.

While she had the full support of her family, Lorya-Ozulamoi said she faced many barriers along the way. Growing up, her dad had always emphasized the importance of receiving an education, something they would find in America.

“We left everything behind to pursue our American dream,” she said.

She said knowing she has an opportunity that many people like her cousins in Sudan do not have motivates her to keep following her dreams.

Lorya-Ozulamoi said she desires to be a social worker because she has always wanted to help others. She is focused on helping immigrant refugees like herself. She said she wants to help them to become self-sufficient and also promote social justice in the world.

“Every little thing I can do to help, I will,” she said. “I want to put my practice into action.”

Lorya-Ozulamoi will be honored April 28 for continuing her education in UW’s Master of Social Work program. For her perseverance since entering the Odyssey Project, she will receive the $1,000 from the Lisa Munro Next Generation Scholarship.

She said the Lisa Munro scholarship means a lot to her because she is able to share a portion of the money with her daughter to enroll in a summer enrichment program.

“I am honored to have this scholarship so she will see what I am doing, and hopefully give her the motivation to keep going like I have,” she said.

The Odyssey Project director Emily Auerbach said the program seeks those who have faced some kind of adversity that has kept them from pursuing a higher education, whether it is economic or personal. Above all, hunger for change is the defining applicant characteristic, she said.

“We have helped people go from homelessness to earning college degrees,” Auerbach said.

The next steps for the program involve starting an Odyssey junior program for children ages 10 to 17, along with expanding the number of adult students they can provide full scholarships for, she said.