Odyssey Academy's family vibe is Cool in School

Right before class gets underway at Odyssey Academy in Brooklyn Center, the halls are filled with kids from kindergarten age through eighth grade.

Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" blares from the hallway speakers, while kids hold hands and move to their classroooms.

On Friday mornings, the first order of business is something called "Family Groups."

"We get students from every grade level coming into our room, and we have a morning meeting," says teacher Ashley DeGreeff.

DeGreeff teachers first and second graders, and she likes the contact with older students in her classroom, because she feels she gets to know more students that way.

Eighth grader Kau Guannu feels the same way.

"Part of me likes it because I get to be familiar with the younger kids, so they see me in the hallway and they all me by my first name," says Guannu.

That's one thing the staff at Odyssey works on-- an environment where all students and staff know each other, and create a family feel in the school.

 That concept was stretched in the past year when Odyssey, already a small school of under 200 students, welcomed 30 more who came from another charter school that closed in the area.

Many of these students are of West African heritage, and the school has taken numerous steps to help students and their families feel comfortable with  their new school.

To learn more about Odyssey Academy and how it's diverse family is helping to fuel student success, click on the video link to the right.

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