This is Odyssey.
Odyssey Community School was founded in 2007 by a group of visionary educators who believed school should nurture every dimension of a child's growth. From the beginning, Odyssey has supported students from Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade on their own epic journey to adulthood. Through academic challenges given with dignity, joy, and deep investigation, our graduates are prepared for more than college and careers. They return home not to the Ithaca of ancient myth, but to a steady sense of belonging within themselves—as curious, capable, and kind humans ready to live rich and meaningful lives.
Our 25,000-square-foot campus, originally built by Duke, sits on six wooded acres in the heart of Asheville. Inside, inspiration has room to grow: two professional recording studios, a pottery kiln, a performance auditorium, and visual arts studios. Outside, the forest becomes part of the classroom. Students learn and play in amphitheater outdoor learning spaces, a wood-fired pizza shed (a high school favorite), a student-run garden, an aquaponic lab, a forested new playground, a second playground for our youngest students, and a summertime pool. We have campus policies to navigate around the inevitable black bears safely (the cubs love our new slide), and the local hawks seem to know not to steal our lunch boxes.
Learning at Odyssey extends far beyond campus. Through service learning, experiential education, and our hallmark Outdoor Service Learning (OSL) program in the high school, students engage deeply with the Asheville community and the wider world. Whether hiking local ridges, apprenticing with local tradespeople and artists during IRP season, volunteering at a community diaper bank, or heading out on field trips for hands-on learning, Odyssey students learn to see themselves as active participants in the living fabric of their community—and stewards of the world they will help shape.
Our past informs our present
In February 2007, educators Dr. John Johnson and Kalyan Volpe started Odyssey with a clear vision: a school for children from three-and-a-half through eighteen that would prepare them for a rich, meaningful life. This school would be built on the Integral Model of education, brought to life through what they described as the Six Strands. Our graduates are academically strong, deeply curious, capable, and kind.
From the beginning, Odyssey was made for all grades on our Zillicoa campus. Mixed-grade classrooms were an intentional choice: they create daily mentorship, flexible grouping, and a wider arc for progress—so every learner has a “just-right next step,” as well as the relationship foundations with surrounding grades to build our community with kindness.
Our founders insisted that education include the search for meaning—what we call process spirituality—not as dogma, but as an open, reflective practice within our Six Strands (Aesthetic, Moral, Mental, Spiritual, Emotional, Physical). It’s not a separate “religion class” or a belief test. In the process tradition, spirituality is a way of being awake to life—a felt awareness that can show up in music, science, art, gardening, friendship, justice work, and quiet reflection. Wherever students “come alive,” that aliveness is part of the spiritual growth that becomes fuel for their greater learning.
The Six Strands are not only how we teach; they’re how we self-evaluate. As research and our students’ needs evolve, so do we. Over the years we’ve refined signature practices, like implementing spiral mathematics in the elementary and middle years, sharpening our hybrid literacy approach for all kinds of readers, and deepening inquiry through IRPs and experiential learning.
These shifts are possible because we stay small enough to know our students and courageous enough to adapt.
Our history isn't a list of job titles; it's a steady commitment to rigor with joy, truth-telling with care, and freedom with responsibility.
We're excited to meet tomorrow with inquiry.
Welcome to the Reflective Universe!
A Universe of Wonder
A Universe of Relationships
A Universe of Creativity
A Universe of Curiosity
A Universe of Play
A Universe of Beauty
A Universe of Self-Awareness
A Universe of Inquiry
A Universe of Love
A Universe of Reflection
In such a universe —
how should we best educate
our children?
Surely we must include:
Wonder
Relationships
Creativity
Curiosity
Play
Beauty
Self Awareness
Inquiry
Love
Reflection
— Dr. John Johnson, 2007
Our facility
Our campus is located in a forested nook in the heart of Asheville. We are bordered by the Reeds Creek Greenway and the University of North Carolina - central for folks all around Asheville, while also feeling like a world away within the woods. We sit on six acres of unceded Anikituwagi land, with over one hundred deciduous hardwood trees around us.
Our building includes:
15 classrooms and learning spaces
Offices
Two full recording studios
Auditorium/gymnasium
Fully equipped commercial kitchen
SmartBoard/Promethean classrooms
A high school lounge
Art studio with a kiln
Our property includes:
Vibrant greenhouse with an aquaponic system for hands-on science learning
A student vegetable garden
Two cozy amphitheater-style outdoors seating areas within our fenced woods
Long, covered pavilion for read-aloud sessions, lectures, music, and lunch
Recreational courts
A pool with summer pool passes for the community
Expansive, wooded playground
A smaller playground for our littlest kids exclusively
A wood-fired pizza oven in a covered outdoor area
Who we are as an Independent School
As an independent school, we have the privilege—and responsibility—of choice. We get to decide who we want to be for and with our community. That means defining what student empowerment looks like, how we measure growth and accomplishment, and which practices truly reflect our values.
Odyssey was founded to create a learning community that honors the wholeness of our beings. It is a space where spirituality and emotionality are acknowledged without being indoctrinated, and where intellectual curiosity and creative freedom thrive. We are not a public or charter school, yet we are deeply committed to serving our community.
It’s also essential to acknowledge the context of our independence. As a school in the southern United States, founded by white families and educators, we recognize the painful history of private education being used as a segregationist tool. You can learn more about this history in this article from southerneducation.org. Our commitment to equity means knowing this history, examining ourselves, and working actively against the systems that perpetuate racism and exclusion.
While we are sometimes described as a “private school” because we rely on tuition and do not accept state funding or follow state curriculum, independent is the word that best reflects who we are. Independence gives us the freedom to teach with integrity, to design curriculum that responds to the world our students live in, and to hold ourselves to the standards that matter most to human development.
Our independence also grounds us in our Six Strands of Growth framework—Moral, Mental, Emotional, Physical, Aesthetic, and Spiritual. These strands guide everything we do. They are the lens through which we view both our internal community and our place in the wider world. The moral strand calls us to examine our choices, our history, and our impact, and to ensure that what we create within our classrooms also contributes to the broader work of justice and compassion beyond them. That moral grounding informs every decision we make as an independent school.
We are independent from state systems, but interdependent with our community. We are not committed to exclusivity—we are committed to accessibility and accountability, to learning from history, and to offering financial aid whenever possible.
Odyssey is a certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and we choose to remain financially independent—relying on tuition and our annual campaign to sustain our mission.
Curious? Come on a tour and see what sets us apart.
We would love to answer all of your questions and help you learn if Odyssey is right for your family. Fill out our tour inquiry form and we’ll find the time that’s right for you.
