Wittenberg writers have a new way to be published and put their opinions out there with the introduction of the Wittenberg branch of the online publication, the Odyssey.
The Odyssey is a fairly new publication that launched in 2014, and was founded by two University of Indiana students. The site is targeted at “a highly-engaged Millennial and Gen Z audience,” according to its website. Most of its readers, 58 percent, are in the 18-24 demographic, and are getting to read articles written by people all over the country on a variety of topics.
Since launching, it now has 3,500 writers publishing on a near-weekly basis, with offices in New York and Indianapolis and over 250 writing communities, with a projected growth of over 450 by the end of the year. Wittenberg’s page is one of the many that joined this year.
On the Wittenberg page, you can find stories written on everything from Netflix to recent developments in Iraq. You can find lists on effective study habits and lists about sororities. There are open letters to mothers and high school seniors alike. All these stories are being written by students here at Wittenberg.
There are about 15 writers at Wittenberg, collectively writing around 13 stories per week, according to Stephanie Glass, junior, the editor-in-chief of the Wittenberg branch of the Odyssey. With each staff member submitting one story a week, Glass finds this to be a solid number for the organization. They meet the requirements that the Odyssey sets in the number of their staff, but are still hoping to grow and were recruiting at the recent student involvement fair.
“I would love to see it become a explosion here on Witt,” Glass said.
Glass found the Odyssey last year after spending her freshman summer and her sophomore year writing for Elite Daily Blog and wasn’t feeling satisfied. She found Odyssey articles on Facebook and other social media sites — which is where nearly all of the Odyssey’s marketing comes from — and sent in her application.
After writing for them for a while, she sent in an application to make a separate page for Wittenberg and its students. After it was approved, she just needed to recruit an initial staff. She has recently done so and, thus, the new organization was born.
The national Odyssey branch works with its writers, but the writers can also work with the editor-in-chief within their community. The hope is to help the writers grow and better themselves.
“I see this as a great way to give our small campus a national voice and ‘pass our light’ all around the web,” Glass said.
