Former ODYSSEY Media Group Editor-in-Chief and Clarke Central High School Class of 2014 alumna Jenny Alpaugh is shown. In her three years in ODYSSEY, she served in various roles, including staff writer, Junior Copy Editor, Print Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief. “She didn’t casually participate in journalism. She lived it. And she lived it according to core values that guided her,” ODYSSEY Media Group founder and adviser David Ragsdale said. Photo from the ODYSSEY archives
On Feb. 5, Class of 2014 Clarke Central High School alumna Jenny Alpaugh passed away. She was remembered by her high school journalism adviser at her memorial service on Feb. 14.
Good afternoon,
My name is David Ragsdale. I’ve been an English teacher at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia for the last 25 years. Half of my life has been spent working with kids of all backgrounds, abilities, interests and levels of engagement. It’s both a blessing and a burden that I have a good memory. It allows me to carry my students with me long after they leave my classroom.
Today, I’m leaning into that memory and into archived reflections to honor one of my all-time favorite people: Jenny Elizabeth Alpaugh.
Jenny was born on May 9, 1996. She passed away on Feb. 5. Between those two dates was a life that mattered.
I distinctly remember Jenny being recruited to our award-winning journalism program by Emma Kissane, herself now a teacher. Emma saw in Jenny traits that I would immediately embrace: a dry wit, uncompromising work ethic, intelligence and quiet fire. That recruitment changed everything.
Over the next three years, I had the privilege of working with, mentoring, and learning from Lil’ Jenny, even teaching her in three different classes during her senior year.
In the big picture, Jenny was multifaceted: a daughter, a big sister to Julie, an Oconee Street Methodist kid, a Governor’s Honors Program Communicative Artist, a graduate of Clarke Central High School, a University of Georgia alumna with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, a crocheter before crochet was cool again…was it ever? a small business owner, a nanny who made tiny children feel safe, a pet-lover.
And at 350 S. Milledge Avenue in Athens, Georgia, Jenny was ODYSSEY.
She didn’t casually participate in journalism. She lived it. And she lived it according to core values that guided her.
At the end of her junior year, Jenny wrote: “I value my families. I have lots of different ‘families’: my church family, my track family, my ODYSSEY family. I want to help to ensure that others feel that way about ODYSSEY, too.”
That wasn’t hyperbole, that wasn’t telling the teacher what he wanted to hear, that was Jenny. She believed in belonging and in community.
She believed our program should feel like home. She believed leadership meant cultivating spaces where people felt seen and safe; it’s the same way she made tiny children feel safe in her work as a nanny.
Her relationship with her sister Julie is a testament to that value.
Jenny was the senior leader in our space: full of conviction, drive, independence and rigidity. Julie was different. She was expressive in her own way and found her own rhythm both behind and in front of the camera. Jenny took pride in Julie making her own path in ODYSSEY.
Another value Jenny held tightly was respect.
She wrote: “I value respect. As editors, we can do a much better job of respecting each other. This means not talking when another person has the floor… This means respecting each other’s ideas, even if we don’t agree with them.”
That was Jenny.
She didn’t equate disagreement with disrespect. She believed in listening. She believed in leading by example. She believed that the culture of a room starts with the behavior of those entrusted with influence.
At the beginning of her junior year, Jenny struggled to process the weight of her work. In her Editors’ Journal, she admitted she was “prone to stress and internalization.”
That level of self-awareness was pure Jenny.
When she was overwhelmed, I told her, “You just gotta pop the pimple, Jenny. You gotta squeeze it out.”
It wasn’t my most elegant turn of phrase, but Jenny valued directness and clarity.
She later reflected: “Sometimes it’s hard, and it hurts, but the popped pimple will always heal.”
She believed that honesty, even uncomfortable, messy honesty, was an act of respect.
Another of her values was impact.
She wrote: “I value the fact that sometimes one person can make a difference.”
She believed stories mattered. Making people feel seen mattered. She wrote about interviewing a source several times, even though the profile never went to press. She reflected that the act of interviewing him, of seeing him, of engaging him, made him feel valued and that experience mattered; it wasn’t merely transactional.
That is who she was. She believed journalism wasn’t about a 40-page magazine or a website; it was sharing the human experience.
In March 2014, at the Southern Interscholastic Press Association convention, after two years in leadership that led to sleepless nights, tears, and, ultimately, growth, she asked herself why she sacrificed so much.
Her answer wasn’t awards.
“It’s because of Jahkiem…it’s Saudia…it’s watching stubborn James have tears streaming down his face at the end of SIPA.”
People. It was always about our people.
Jenny valued balance, even when she struggled to achieve it.
She wrote aspirationally back in 2013: “I need to value balance. I hope that next semester I can achieve a better balance than I have this semester. I hope that next semester I am able to achieve my goals without compromising any of my values.”
That sentence might summarize her life.
She pursued excellence fiercely. But she never wanted success at the expense of her values. She believed excellence and empathy could coexist. She believed in showing up.
She believed in compassion. She believed in community. She believed that “Sometimes one person can make a difference.” She believed that “It will work out…just know on your most stressful nights, that it is going to be okay.”
Those words from 2014 were meant for future editors. Today, they are for us.
We are heartbroken. We are grieving a life that feels unfinished. But Jenny’s legacy didn’t end on Feb. 5.
It lives in: the stories she told, the art she created, the children she nurtured, the sister she championed, the communities she strengthened, the values she embodied.
“She believed stories mattered. Making people feel seen mattered. She wrote about interviewing a source several times, even though the profile never went to press. She reflected that the act of interviewing him, of seeing him, of engaging him, made him feel valued and that experience mattered; it wasn’t merely transactional.”
— David A. Ragsdale,
ODYSSEY Media Group founder and adviser
Jenny Elizabeth Alpaugh was born May 9, 1996. She passed away Feb. 5.
Between those two dates was a life built on family, respect, courage, truth, impact, and love.
She popped the pimples. She respected the room. She made space for others. She valued her families. She tried to find balance. She believed one person could make a difference. She loved deeply.
And she left this world better than she found it.
Thank you, Jenny.
