The Odyssey Fellowship
A RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM AT THE ECO-INSTITUTE
The Odyssey Fellowship
A RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM AT THE ECO-INSTITUTE
Apply For summer 2018
Join the Movement
Join the Movement
ARE YOU FEELING DISCONNECTED FROM YOUR PURPOSE, FROM
COMMUNITY, AND FROM THE EARTH?
Do you dream of the possibilities of a Better World?
Are you ready to step into your full potential
and offer your unique gifts to the healing of our world?
FIND YOUR LIFE OF PURPOSE
CREATING AN ECOLOGICALLY RESILIENT CULTURE
FIND YOUR LIFE OF PURPOSE
CREATING AN ECOLOGICALLY RESILIENT CULTURE
ABOUT
The Odyssey Fellowship is a ten-week residential immersion for people who long to restore balance and hope in a time of world crisis. This semester-long program offers foundational skills in permaculture, deep nature connection, ecological community building and powerful soul-level exploration. Cultivate your unique gifts and passions for the healing of our world.
vision
Join us in cultivating an authentic, diverse, growing community of leaders who believe in a future that is ecologically resilient, socially just, and spiritually fulfilling for all beings.
Seeking a gap year program, a mid-career break, or a transformative semester-long adventure? Are you over age 18? Spend this summer becoming part of a dedicated group of life-long allies working towards a better world.
Fall 2015 Fellowship Group
Photo courtesy of Will Gehrman
Commitment
Do you see the need to change our current culture and recognize that we each have a role to play? Are you eager to explore new forms of living that honor nature’s wisdom?
Help create what our friend Charles Eisenstein calls "the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible." Join forces to honor the sacred interconnectedness of life through relationships with land, ourselves and all beings.
Living Simply
Living Simply
YOME HOME
Your Yome (hybrid yurt & dome) will be your home for the Summer, shared with 2-3 yome-mates. This simple living experience without plumbing or electricity, supports deep nature connection. Develop a relationship with the rhythms of nature, and a deep connection with the land.
Your kitchen, showers, bathrooms, library and gathering area are in a beautifully renovated former horse stable.
Cooperative Meals
Cooperative Meals
Cooperatively prepare community meals with consciously grown ingredients, including free-ranging chicken eggs, freshly harvested vegetables, and organically grown mushrooms from the farm.
In sharing our resources and responsibilities, we recognize our interrelationship to Earth and to each other as we nourish our bodies, minds and spirits.
Curriculum
Curriculum
CURRICULUM
Foundations of PERMACULTURE
Holistic Farming
Farm to Table Culinary Arts
Planting & Harvesting
Seed-Saving
Composting & Soil Health
Mushroom Cultivation
Crop Rotation Planning
Animal Husbandry
PERSONAL GROWTH
Guided Yoga & Meditation
Reflective Writing Practice
Guided Group Work
Mentorship
Life Visioning & Career Design
Other Workshops & Skills
Earthen Building*
Beekeeping*
Fermentation*
Dreamwork*
Carpentry & Building*
Nature Connection
Botany/ Wild Plants
Herbal Medicine*
Living Ecology Walks
Mycology/ Wild Mushrooms*
Spiritual Ecology
Community Building
Sharing Responsibilities
Cooperative Meal Preparation
Hosting Community Potlucks & Events
Elders Circle
Leadership
GROUP PROCESS
Conflict Resolution Skills
Compassionate Communication Skills
Co-Counseling Skills
Circle Leadership Process
*These topics rotate seasonally and may be available during the Fellowship program based on participants interest
“That is what school is supposed to be like”
A Typical Day
A Typical Day
a typical day
Wake up to the sounds of the forest, birdsong and squirrels rustling in the leaves. Emerge from your yome-home to a fresh new day.
Engage in your own personally created morning spiritual practice including meditation, exercise, yoga, reading, walking/running, or writing.
Share the responsibilities of caring for other living beings through rotating "Farm Chores." Enjoy breakfast together before the day’s learning begins.
Join the group at 9am for planting, cultivating, and harvesting plants in the gardens, or building/repair projects on the farm.
Share a fresh farm lunch with your companions.
Afternoons offer time to rest, gather for discussion groups, share skills, make art, or check in with your community members.
Evenings and Weekends offer a variety of special learning opportunities including study groups, workshops, classes and community gatherings focused on what is possible for the future of humanity.
Experience a unique blend of classes throughout the 10 weeks of study. Your schedule is designed to support a balanced life: infused with opportunities to create, play and rest. Spend your days working and learning practical life skills in regenerative agriculture, renewable energy, and ecological sustainability. Spend your afternoons in group process, contemplation, introspection, and creativity.
Tuition & Scholarships
Tuition & Scholarships
Tuition, room & Board
The Odyssey Fellowship program cost varies greatly based on eligibility and socio-economic situation. The cost includes room and board, all meals and all workshops. After sending in your Odyssey Fellowship Application, check out and consider applying for the Scholarship Offerings.
Though the Odyssey Fellowship is valued at $6,000, more than half of each fellowship cohort receives Scholarship for between 20-90% of the cost of the program.
Thank you to the donors and supporters who are committed to making this program accessible for young adult visionaries and change-makers!
Scholarships program
The Eco-Institute recognizes Solidarity and Allyship work as a critically important part of healing the human-earth relationship. A variety of scholarships make this program accessible for people from all walks of life. We encourage young adults to apply who bring diverse perspectives, a passion for environmental justice, a love of the Earth, and who inspire action through creative expression.
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DETAILS
Scholarships typically range between $1,000 and $5,400. Upon acceptance, participants are required to send in a $500 non-refundable deposit to save their spot in the program. Tuition payment plans are available.
The aim of our scholarship program is to build bridges between future leaders of diverse cultures and identities, to experience the powerful connections between personal and planetary health, and to heal the aspects that divide us so that we may co-create the future together.
offerings
- Environmental Educator or Activist
- Young Adult Person of Color
- Artist in Residence
- Genderfluid Young Adult
- First Nations/Indigenous Young Adult
- Social Justice
- Spiritual Activist
- Human Rights Activist
- Culinary Expertise
- Primitive Skills
- Conflict Resolution
- Young Farmer
Upcoming Sessions
Upcoming Sessions
We are currently accepting applications for the following seasons. We welcome you to apply before the corresponding deadline.
SUMMER 2018 session
June 6 - August 15
Accepting Applications
Throughout the Month of May
“Truly beautiful.
And what is amazing is these young people will come away deeply connected from within and with a greater fabric of community with other young people who truly wish to connect. So many great things can come from a model like this. We applaud you!”
Apply to the fellowship
Apply to the fellowship
Photo courtesy of Anna Maynard
Apply
Accepting applications throuout the month of May.
Please read directions carefully and send your application in PDF format to Chris at programs@eco-institute.org.
“We still have little understanding of the spiritual dimension within the natural world, or how our individual soul relates to the larger dimension of the world soul (what the ancients called the anima mundi)... Instead we are caught within a contemporary consciousness that focuses on the individual self, no longer even aware of our deep bond to the sacred within creation.”
Meet the Fellows
Meet the Fellows
Jimi Eisenstein
“What I have learned here is vastly diverse, encompassing practical skills in agriculture, interpersonal skills, philosophical ideas, and spiritual practice. Most importantly however, I have begun to learn nature’s language and how to directly communicate with the magnificent spiritual essence of what we call the Earth.”
Taylor Westbrook
“Work as a way to Create
Play as a way to Release
Share as a way to Connect
Receive as a way to Appreciate
Open as a way to Relate
Vibe as a way to BE
All ways to endless possibilities...”
Brenna Carpenter
“I carry the stillness now to be able to listen. This may sound nice and neat, but my head had to explode a few times, and my notion of the world obliterated.”
Will Gehrman
"This space allows for rehabilitation of the soul, renewed connection with one’s self, nature & the universe."
Jamila Versi
“It is often easy to lose ourselves in the external world, but an important first step to igniting any change is to ground ourselves so that we can become that change we wish to see in the world.”
Flora Kaye
“This program calls us to look clearly at that which holds us back from our greatest potential.”
Shane Hawkins
“I have learned tools to help me step into life with authenticity and greater fullness.”
Check out this video by former fellow, River Bourne:
Stay Connected
Stay Connected
Join Our Interest List
Let us know that you're interested & we'll stay in touch!
Click on photo to view more and connect with the Odyssey Fellowship on Instagram
Our Location
8519 Pickards Meadow Rd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516