Clarke Central High School freshman Jocelyn Ray poses for a picture in Colorado, where she lived before moving to Athens.
The ODYSSEY Media Group will provide viewers with stylized profiles that center on people in the Athens community telling their own stories.
Clarke Central High School freshman Jocelyn Ray grew up in Superior, Colorado, and after moving to Athens in 2017, she is having to adjust to a new sky.
Standing in front of the Clarke Central High School entrance, freshman Jocelyn Ray disappointingly gazes at the new Georgia sky that hangs above her head. As she stares at the wispy clouds that are speckled across the plain, blue sky, she becomes reminiscent of the Colorado sunrises and sunsets she grew up loving.
Living in Superior, Colorado, just outside of Boulder, Colorado, Jocelyn remembers eagerly waking up at 5:30 a.m. on school days to meet her friends at 6:30 a.m. for morning hikes before school.
And at 3:30 p.m. when the last bell of the day would ring throughout the halls, Jocelyn and her friends would quickly escape campus to make food trips to Boulder for evening picnics in the mountains.
“We could walk up there in sneakers and lay down a blanket and eat Chipotle,” Ray said.
During their picnics, the sun would quickly begin to set behind the mountains surrounding them. Unlike Georgia, the sky did not become plain and blue.
It was vibrant.
The sky would become engulfed in an orange and pink or a cotton-candy swirl of purple above them as they watched in amazement from their blanket. While sitting on the mountain, Jocelyn could look out below her and watch as Boulder fell into a darkness when the sun began to vanished behind the crests of the mountains.
Now surrounded by trees instead of mountains, Ray lacks the same mountain view she once loved. But even without the same sky, Jocelyn finds the best of Colorado in her new Georgia home.
To Ray, Athens is in many ways similar to Boulder.
From the boutiques that run throughout Downtown Athens to the immense number of genuine and “down-to-earth” friends she has made, Georgia has become a new home for her.
