Odyssey Awards Luncheon 2024

The 2022 Odyssey Awards Luncheon will be held on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Each year, CGLA presents the Odyssey Awards Luncheon to recognize exemplary CGLA students and celebrate CGLA’s distinctive accomplishments. Now in its 13th academic year, CGLA has made tremendous progress as the school continues to excel in academic standards.

Keynote – Ian Symmonds

Ian started ISA with a notebook computer, cell phone, and a dream of using his skills to transform the education landscape. After serving a decade and a half at the cabinet level for several private schools, colleges, and universities, turning around enrollment and strategy in the process, he launched Ian Symmonds & Associates Inc. in 2003. Nearly 20 years, 1000 clients, and four million air miles traveled later, Ian has seen more schools, colleges, universities, and non-profits than any other consultant in America.

Ian is an author, speaker, ed-activist, and strategist. His global professional practice as a senior officer, executive director, and dean spanned Pacific University, Culver-Stockton College, Saint Mary's Hall, and Trinity University. He is a global citizen and has traveled the world for boarding schools and colleges and engineered dramatic turnarounds for multiple private institutions during his career.

Occasionally dubbed an "ed-activist", Ian holds a high opinion of the role of education in building communities and solving social issues. He launched the #JustCause campaign in 2011 to strategically connect ISA with organizations that are addressing structural poverty through education. He speaks and writes on the issue and devotes a portion of time consulting with organizations through the Just Cause campaign.

Guest Performer – Wintley Phipps

Wintley Phipps is a world-renowned vocal artist, pastor, motivational speaker, and education activist. He is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Dream Academy, Inc., a non-profit, national after-school program that provides mentoring and tutoring around the country to children of incarcerated parents and children falling behind in school. www.usdreamacademy.org Founded in 1998, this organization has grown from one center in Washington, DC to seven (7) cities across this nation and has served over 10,000 young people living in neighborhoods harmed by high rates of incarceration. The weekday program offers skill-building, character-building and dream-building activities in a safe after-school environment utilizing both one-to-one mentoring as well as state of the art technology to deliver on-line academic enrichment.

Date: March 9, 2022

Time: 11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M. 

Location: Chattanooga Convention Center