3 minute read
Living a Dream...
By Las Cruces Bulletin
Whether in action-packed movies or dramatized sitcoms, many children aspire to be on television. For Noreen Jaramillo (B.S. 93) her career has taken her on a real life adventure.
According to the Las Cruces Bulletin; Noreen was born in Veguita, N.M., she grew up around farming and family. “My dad was a farmer with my uncle, and the kids were always doing something outside- feeding the animals, pulling weeds, walking the ditch banks,” she said. “But even as a young child, I knew I wanted to be on the news.” Noreen said she also loved writing, a skill most people don’t always associate with reporters.
From a dream as a child to a realistic career, Noreen said she truly made up her mind to pursue broadcast journalism when she visited her older sister at Eastern New Mexico University her junior year of high school. Her sister took her to the Communication department. Noreen was thrilled that the department had a student run TV station. She said, “It was then I knew this is what I wanted.” After high school, Noreen enrolled at ENMU and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications. Describing each of her jobs as a blessing, her broadcast career began immediately after college, working for a news station in Roswell, N.M., and learning many aspects of the profession. After spending time in Roswell for a year, Noreen seized an opportunity in El Paso working as a reporter for KVLA.
As Noreen’s career progressed, she found herself at another station in El Paso- KFOX. “I was there when we launched the News at 9 p.m. It was scary because I did leave an already established news program,” she said about transferring from KVIA to KFOX, “but I still considered it a promotion. Even though I was still in the same market, I went from a weekend anchor to a primetime anchor.”
Noreen said she was thankful for her past experience in Roswell because learning how to operate so many facets of a newsroom made her more versatile. After working at KFOX for six years, Noreen said she and her husband had their “California adventure” in San Diego when she was offered a job as a fill-in reporter. “It was great to explore California and, like most news stations, there was something new every day,” she said. Though California offered many perks, Noreen said she and her husband spent more time commuting and working than with their two children, so they decided to move back to El Paso.
Noreen continued her journalism career at KFOX until March 2010, when she began working for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture as public information officer.
UPDATE: In November 2011, Noreen accepted a position to return to TV news back in El Paso. Noreen says, “I will be back at the anchor desk as the morning news anchor for KTSM TV (the NBC affiliate in El Paso).” Noreen’s 13 years of experience in the El Paso market and 17 years in TV News sparked an interest for the KTSM news channel to offer her this position. “I will continue to work for NMDA as their PIO on a part time basis,” Noreen says. Feeling extremely blessed, she is thrilled and excited to start her job in December. She also is continuing doing radio news headlines for BravoMic Communications out of Las Cruces, doing their news headlines for their four radio stations that broadcast in Southern New Mexico. Noreen says, “I will be busy - but it’s a GREAT busy.”
