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    Steffany Duke, editor. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Steffany Duke named new editor

Hello Dripping Springs! I am thrilled to be joining the Century News as editor. I want to thank the previous editor, Bonnie Gonzalez, for paving this path and thank our general manager and publisher for trusting me with the task of keeping our community informed. Covering the news has been a passion of mine since I was very young.

As far back as I can remember, I always enjoyed watching the local news. My family was loyal to the ABC affiliate in Beaumont, TX- KBMT 12 News, and as a child, the news was my preferred entertainment over cartoons. I remember carrying a notepad and pencil around with me everywhere I went so I could tell the stories in my neighborhood. My brother and sister would say that I was a “tattle-tell” or “mama’s eyes” to the other kids. It is true that I often wrote stories about what they were doing or should not be doing. But to me, I was just covering the news!

It was probably seventh grade when I knew I wanted to be a television news reporter. For an assignment, we had to make a presentation on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I recorded my favorite news anchor, Tracy Kennick, and showed the tape at school. She had a segment called Trip on a Tank, where she shared places you could take your family for fun in the area on just a tank of gas. I don’t know why it was that particular segment that inspired me so much, but I knew I wanted to one day tell stories just like that in my own community.

My first real opportunity to become a journalist came in high school writing for the school newspaper at Little-Cypress Mauriceville High School. I went on to become the features editor my junior year and editor-in-chief as a senior. I also often wrote for another local newspaper, The Orange County Record, as a high school sports insider.

Throughout college at Lamar University, I was involved with the student newspaper and the studentrun television station. My big break came just before the 2004 presidential election. I landed the front-page headline of the student newspaper as a freshman for my coverage of the struggle some students had registering to vote. The same day that article ran, I had an interview for a job as a production assistant at my favorite TV station, KBMT 12 News.

I am pretty sure that I fan-girled all over the place, especially walking past Tracy’s desk, and only got the job because I could list all the names of every anchor and reporter of every newscast. Yes, I really did that in my interview! Perhaps it was because I was so young that they didn’t believe me when I said I was a loyal viewer. The general manager decided to quiz me, and to this day I could still tell you most of their names.

I continued to work as a production assistant for a couple of years before being promoted to sideline reporter for the Friday Night Sports Blitz. Admittedly, I was terrible at this! After saying the score wrong during a live report, the station switched me over to feature stories about the football fans and traditions of the teams. That is where I found my groove, and I impressed them enough to be given a second chance in the newsroom covering a range of topics from college campus news to city council meetings and even hurricanes.

After college, I worked as a news producer and reporter in Beaumont and Tyler, TX before moving to Austin and working in state public relations. I left my job at the governor’s press office when I became a mom to boy/girl twins in 2012. Since then, my husband Derrick and I have welcomed another daughter. We have lived in Dripping Springs since 2009, and we could not imagine our lives anywhere else.

Throughout the years as an at-home parent, I’ve stayed connected to the community by writing in various publications. Now, with all three of my children school-aged, I am thrilled to return to the news industry to tell the stories of Dripping Springs. It is my sincere hope that I will gain your trust as an unbiased source of information.

Please feel free to share your good news stories, sports photos, announcements and news tips by emailing [email protected].

Dripping Springs Century-News

P.O. Box 732
Dripping Springs, Texas 78620

Phone: (512) 858-4163
Fax: (512) 847-9054