Odyssey – The Essential School is one of the three high schools on the Tyee Educational Complex on S. 188th St. in SeaTac and occupies the westernmost building. The other two are the Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment (ACE) and Global Connections High School. Odyssey now has 80 students, is open to any student living within the Highline Public Schools boundaries, and seeks new students in the fall, freshmen to seniors.

Tyee High School was founded in 1963, then in '05 the "comprehensive high school" divided into the three smaller high schools in the hopes of improving academic performance. Odyssey Principal, Joan Ferrigno, was the Tyee High School Assistant Principal until it divided, then reapplied and was hired in her current position.

"When we used to be a comprehensive high school, Tyee, had all these buildings, a lot of struggles, a lot of discipline issues, poor attendance and low graduation rates," Ferrigno recalled. You might say a change was essential.

"We got a grant from the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) and the Gates Foundation and traveled around the country to observe what other schools were doing."

They toured Leadership High School in San Francisco, Eagle Rock School in Estes Park, Colorado, which is an initiative of the American Honda Motor Company, and small schools in Chicago and Ohio.

The CES website sites 10 "Common Principles" that guide Essential Schools. They are: Learning to use one’s mind well, Less is more, depth over coverage, Goals apply to all students, Personalization, Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach, Demonstration of mastery, A tone of decency and trust, Commitment to the entire school, Resources dedicated to teaching and learning, and Democracy and equity.

"We decided we wanted to get smaller, to personalize," she said. "That was eight years ago. It was an interesting process. We got great results immediately in terms of discipline. We all created a family-like atmosphere. But we still weren't getting the academic results. Odyssey decided we had to do something different, again."

They made another change in time for the 2010/2011 year.

"We got an (Investing In) Innovation Grant from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and as an innovative school they gave us a waiver from credits," Ferrigno said. "We didn't want to use credits anymore. Credits are tied to time and we don't believe that learning should be tied to time. We don't believe in traditional letter grades. We don't believe grades motivate kids. If you get an 'F' it motivates you to fail."

"In a traditional school, if by the beginning of November you're failing in a class, you know all November and December that you will get an 'F' in January," she said. "That's not motivation. We expect you to work as hard as you can, to share your thinking with your teachers and your peers. And if you're struggling we will provide you with extra support. But in no way does this mean you can slack off and in the end do what you feel like doing. We accept most who apply. We want to serve the kids in our community. We just want to do school differently. We're a college prep school and have really high standards.

"Eighty-five percent of our students receive free and reduced lunch, about the same in the other two schools," she said. "We are a diverse community and consider that a strength. We're not an alternative school or a last chance school or a credit factory but, yes, we do school differently. We don't have a stigma as a CHOICE school, but we do have a stigma being on this campus. It is considered a struggling campus."

Ferrigno said ideally a new building in a different location would help stamp out the stigma. She also pointed out that "You can't get out of Odyssey until you pass every class you need in order to get into a four year college in the state." Her students take state testing, PSAT's and SAT's. They are visited regularly by UW students with the Dream Project, a student-initiated program that partners UW students with first-generation and low-income students in Seattle area high schools to assist in the college admissions process including SAT prep, applications, writing essays, applying for financial aid, and finding scholarships.

Renee Gallagher, Odyssey Instructional Coach, taught math and special ed at the school five years, then started coaching teachers and co-planning lessons.

"We've seen huge gains in test scores," said Gallagher. "Last year we had our highest math scores ever. We've seen net gains in a short amount of time. We are very excited about the evidence we are seeing in our school that student are rising to the challenge. Students are confident as they demonstrate their learning and thinking with their teachers and peers. Teachers are using shared practices, and set a high standard for students to engage in all classes daily."

Added Gallagher, "It's a big adjustment for some kids who come here from other schools. They're not used to teachers talking to them (personally) every day in every class period. You can just see it in their face. They're like, 'Oh shoot. I can't get away with not understanding.'"

Odyssey seniors Liam Maginniss and Berenice Espinosa spent all four years there. They play on the Tyee Totems soccer team, which includes all three campus schools, and are considered among the best players there.

"We're filthy!" said Maginniss, referring to the Totems. That's teen-talk for being really good. He'd attended Sylvester Middle School. "I chose Odyssey because my brother went here, and I thought it was a good environment. I'll go to Bellevue or Highline Community College and then hopefully go to a 4-year college. I'm interested in sports medicine. This is not in a blow-off school in any way. It easier to understand the work and made it less stressful than getting graded on everything you did."

"I chose to come here because one of my friends came here," said Espinosa, a Chinook grad who hosts at a nearby California Pizza Kitchen. Her sister, Dulce, also attends. "My mom said I could choose a school but that I have to get good grades. You get to know everybody here. I like that. I know some students from elementary school. I want to be a dental assistant or (enter) nursing."

Senior Ashley Cea Figueroa has also atended Odyssey four years. " I feel like if I have to work on a problem I can go to them and they have my back," she said of the staff. Her younger sister, Katie, also attends. "During my first two years of high school we went to talk about what we wanted to do because we felt the education wasn't good enough and Ms. Joan and a group of teachers came up and said, 'Let's do Competencies', which is standards-based learning. I'm going to pursue ultrasound at Bellevue or Seattle University."

Christopher Macapagal, 17, is a junior, and wants to pursue civil engineering. "I chose this school. I like its diverse culture. It feels like a family."

Odyssey is accepting applications, which you can find on the Highline Public Schools website.