The UTEP Student Media and Publications Department is happily announcing that they have filled their assistant director position. The new Assistant Director, Crystal Hinga is elated to serve as the new editorial advisor for the student media team and assist the students in reaching new heights.   

I was born and grew up in Columbus, Mississippi, a city known as “The Friendly City.” One of my favorite elements of the small town where I grew up is going back home sometimes, going to the local Walmart with my grandmother and bumping into classmates I grew up with or seeing a couple of cousins.   

I left Mississippi after high school and pursued my degree in communications at the University of Memphis where I enjoyed a lot of barbecues, met lifelong friends, and made Memphis my second home. I began my broadcast career in the same city at WMC-TV. I started behind the scenes as a production assistant, advanced my way into a full-time photographer and videographer for about two years, and finally made my debut on air as a weekend reporter.   

Memphis is also the city where I realized, eventually in my media career, that I would love to work with students someday to make sure they are well prepared for the media industry when they graduate college. When I graduated and started in the industry, I felt like I was not thoroughly prepared and had to learn quickly as I went in order to stay afloat.   

I decided to leave Memphis after a few years to continue my career as a breaking news reporter in Savannah, Georgia. I covered a wide range of news from political stories, crime, hurricanes, sports and even light-hearted fun stories. One of my biggest and most memorable stories in Savannah was team coverage of the C-130 military plane crash in 2018.   

Savannah, Georgia is also the city I will always remember as it is where I met my husband when we were both at the beginning of our careers. We married in Savannah and have two beautiful, busy children. We also recently added another family member to our home; a New Zealand White bunny named Copper.   

While my career in broadcast news began to take a lot of time away from my family, I realized I was ready to progress from news and tap into the leadership realm of media.   

In 2019, I was granted the opportunity to lead college media students as the Assistant Director of Student Media at Georgia Southern University. I immediately fell in love with the field, helped launch media programs and led students to award-winning work. I am super excited to be living out my purpose and manifesting my dream of leading students into the media industry with much experience.  

My husband’s career as a Black Hawk Pilot landed my family in El Paso in 2021. While the borderland is a different living experience than the places we have lived, we have grown to love the city, the people, the culture and all the experiences.   

While my husband continues his pilot career at Fort Bliss, I could not be more grateful to finally be a part of the University of Texas El Paso community and have a new student media family to lead and produce content with.  

When I am not marathon training, I will likely be spotted in the student media office editing, planning, teaching, or creating content with the new team.  

Crystal Hinga is the editorial advisor and may be reached at [email protected]