Campus security guard and Clarke Central 2010 graduate Jillian Anderson is glad to back in the halls of CCHS. She is working this semester to fill in time before going to play for the Harlem Globetrotters and looks forward to spreading some of her knowledge about hope and life after high school with the students. “I kind of wanted to be back in a high school environment and just spread a little knowledge that I’ve learned since I’ve been out of school,” Anderson said.
Update: The ODYSSEY Media Group will provide viewers with weekly stylized profiles that center on people in the Athens community telling their own stories.
By JORDAN RHYM – Print Copy Editor
Clarke Central graduate and campus security guard Jillian Anderson has taken a new turn in her career. From CCHS to Albany State University, Anderson pursued a career in computer science but now her eyes are set on a professional basketball career.
She’s back.
Campus security guard and 2010 Clarke Central High School graduate Jillian Anderson walks across the campus. She no longer has a backpack to weigh her down instead she carries a black walkie-talkie and wears a gray security jacket.
She remembers graduating from CCHS in 2010. The most important thing to her at the time was basketball and it still is. Basketball is her passion and when she left CCHS and went to college at Albany State University, she continued to do what she loved while also earning her degree in computer science.
“I love basketball. I’ve always loved basketball. It was my first sport. I went to college and played three different sports. I did track, volleyball, basketball, but basketball has always been my love,” Anderson said.
She didn’t get the chance to play all four years in college, but she did earn her degree in computer science so she stuck with that after graduating from Albany State University.
“I was actually in Virginia. I was working a computer-engineering internship, so I was about to start like my career, and then I got the phone call and I was like, I’m just gonna go home and train because it’s a once in a lifetime thing,” Anderson said.
She was recruited to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.
For her, there really wasn’t a choice to make, the Harlem Globetrotters was an opportunity she couldn’t say no to. She packed up her things and moved back down to Athens, the place where she lived from the age of 2, and returned to the halls of Clarke Central to wait for the Harlem Globetrotters to begin their new season.
“I just wanted to spread a little knowledge to the kids. I’m going professional basketball next year, so that’s why I’m just working. I’m very planned out, but yeah I’m just working this little job trying to spread a little knowledge and tell the kids that you know ‘you can make it out of Athens,’” Anderson said.
