Viewpoint: So Long, Celina Avila
By ABC-7 General Manager Kevin Lovell
EL PASO, Texas — Celina Avila has always turned heads when she walks into a room or appears on camera, for that matter. Impeccably dressed, ever changing hair styles and perfectly applied make-up accentuate her natural beauty.
Now, I?m going to tell you a few things about Celina that you may not know.
At 10 p.m. Wednesday, Estela Casas and Rick Cabrera will bid farewell to our 4 p.m. anchor and reporter as she concludes her eight-year run at KVIA-TV. The Coronado High School and New Mexico State University graduate is moving to Riverside, Calif., to join her husband, Brian Wickstrom — who is the former outstanding associate athletic director, the No. 2 man to Bob Stull — in the UTEP athletic department.
Last summer, Brian landed the job as athletic director at Division I Cal-Riverside east of Los Angeles. Celina stayed behind to tie up loose ends and she?ll be moving with their two young boys, Vincent and John Christian, to California over the holidays.
Celina has always been pretty. But she?s had to grow and mature into becoming an outstanding anchor and dogged reporter when she sinks her teeth into a story. While in college, Celina provided traffic and news updates at KLAQ/KROD radio. Celina will admit that she had not begun to mature as a journalist. That made it all that much tougher to withstand the antics and egos of strong-willed radio personalities Buzz Adams and Paul Strelzin.
She grew stronger as a result and eventually migrated to KTSM-TV, where she became the weekend news anchor. I was amazed at how much she had improved over her neophyte radio days and made the very rare decision to hire ?talent? away from the competition.
During the past eight years at ABC-7, I have admired Celina?s growth into a great anchor and full-fledged reporter. Believe me, doing TV news is tough. This business spits out anyone who cannot think quickly and articulate complex stories under heavy deadline pressure. Celina has covered the gamut of stories to include police department controversies, the Chico?s Tacos gay-rights episode and the Don Haskins Memorial. She?s done challenging stories with dogged determination.
All the while, Celina has followed Estela?s lead in realizing the importance of community involvement. In recent months, the pressure has really been on Celina. With her husband gone, she?s had to raise two challenging boys while helping her mother survive breast cancer. While at KVIA, Celina has become a true journalist, but more importantly a good mother and a strong woman. I?m really going to miss her and I think you will, too.
