After they first met at a Cable 8 Productions informational meeting, Brinkley Hill went home and told her roommates about the people she met. Her roommates said that one of the guys, Damien Alvarado, sounded like a dick.

With the warning, Hill said she avoided Alvarado at the start of working together at Cable 8, and she thought he did not really like her. But after spending time texting each other more and more, they each began to develop feelings.

“Things just started clicking. We would just text randomly and just talk and we would just talk for, like, long periods of time and we started hanging out and it was clicking,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado and Hill are both seniors graduating this semester, with both primarily studying broadcast news.

Hill said they spent time together working on CougZone, a Cable 8 sports show in the style of SportsCenter, alongside other producers of other sports shows, editing and just being in each other’s presence.

“I pretty much played Solitaire and occasionally made a social media graphic, but I was really just there because I wanted to make friends. I thought that I could learn a lot from them and I did,” she said.

Hill asked Alvarado to be her boyfriend in October 2021, and the week before graduation marked the first year and a half of their relationship. In their relationship, they have been in each other’s corner and have been the primary source of motivation in work and in school, Hill said.

“He has always been the one to push me the hardest, like telling the truth but at the same time, being my biggest supporter,” she said. “Damien was really the change for me educationally, honestly, because I can’t tell you how many times he was like, if you actually tried, you’d probably be a pretty good journalist.”

Hill said that Alvarado is the type of person you meet once in a lifetime and is someone who makes it so that you leave every interaction feeling better about yourself, no matter what.

Alvarado said Hill has had a similar impact on him, but more so on helping him with his mental health and with expressing the feelings that he always used to hide.

Hill and Alvarado studied broadcast news at WSU, and both signed contracts to work in Medford, Oregon, for KDRV as anchors and reporters. Alvarado said that the two have even been given the opportunity to anchor together, something that is pretty unheard of out of college.

“It’s just like a really special opportunity. It’s exciting. There’s going to be a lot to do, a lot to work on, a lot to improve on. And I think we’re ready to take on that challenge,” Hill said.

Hill said their experience working together on CougZone, at football games and taking classes together already has given them the chemistry needed to anchor together. The football games, especially, are some of the most memorable memories that the two will keep from WSU.

“I think football games have been really special. Just getting to go. And you know, football games, which is different in general, but getting to be on the field. Getting to have that access. There’s a different adrenaline working the game. That’s really special to share with someone else,” Hill said.

Hill said Alvarado is one of the smartest, nicest, most patient, caring people you will ever meet. She said Alvarado is golden, something that Alvarado said he has been told by professors and family alike. He is someone you want in your back corner, and when you are lucky enough to know him, the world goes ‘round, she said.

Hill said she is someone ready to take on the future.

“I’m so happy to have met the people I have because I know they’re gonna support me through everything. I am so extremely grateful for Murrow and the people I’ve met in this school,” she said.

Alvarado had a far more simple way of describing her.

“Brinkley Hill is the love of my life,” he said.