It's after 10 p.m. on game day. Not just a game day, but also a Friday night. The UTPA Fieldhouse is mostly empty. Sara Hernandez's responsibilities for the day are long done. She could have gone home at least 30 minutes ago. Instead she's helping to clean up and put away chairs.
 
There's a concert in the UTPA Fieldhouse coming up so the basketball set-up needs to be torn down. That's the job of Adam Mendez, the Events and Facilities Coordinator. Sara knows that if she doesn't help, Adam will be there all night.
 
So, long after almost everyone else is gone, Sara, along with her co-workers from the Athletic Media Relations office, Jonah Goldberg and Danny Elizondo, and Goldberg's fiancé, Elizabeth, clean up while listening to '80s music from Mendez's phone.
 
“Sara is always ready to lend her muscle. She never hesitates to ask if assistance is needed,” Mendez said. “Her work ethic and positive attitude have been a welcome addition to Athletic Events.”
 
That's just who Sara is. She doesn't leave until the job is done, even if it's not her job. She pays it forward. She always has. And now she's earned a reward.
 
After spending the last year and a half as a graduate assistant in the Athletic Media Relations Department, and the four years before that as a dynamic hurdler on the UTPA Track & Field team, Hernandez has earned a full-time job as Athletic Marketing and Promotions Coordinator, effective in January.
 
“I am delighted to officially announce Sara Hernandez as the new Athletic Marketing and Promotions Coordinator at The University of Texas-Pan American,” UTPA Director of Athletics Chris King said. “I can't tell you how special it has been to watch Sara transition from a successful UTPA track & field student-athlete into a successful graduate assistant over the past five and a half years, and now serve our department in a full-time capacity. Sara had tremendous leadership skills while a student-athlete, including serving as President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Sara has been a special part of Broncs athletics over the past five and a half years, and as a student at UTPA, she earned both her undergraduate and masters' degrees. We feel very privileged to be able to hire an alumnus and former athlete of Sara's talent and potential within our marketing and promotions area.”

A native of Matamoros, Mexico, and a graduate of Saint Joseph Academy in Brownsville, Sara joined the Broncs during the 2007-08 academic year. She immediately became a major contributor, and even got her name in the program records book a few times. Sara finished her running career No. 2 in the indoor 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.23 in 2009, and No. 3 in the outdoor 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:03.69 in 2010.
 
“Sara was the first student-athlete's face I saw when I arrived here years ago, and it was always a pleasant one to see. She was always a pleasure to coach,” Broncs head coach Xavier Richardson said. “One of the highlights of her career for me was watching her surge over the last few hurdles at her last conference championships to get third place in the 400-meter hurdles. But in addition to that, the everyday of working with her was great. I've tried to get her out of retirement ever since she graduated, but to no avail. She was a hard worker and a tough competitor and literally ALWAYS had a smile on her face. She's the only athlete I've had who actually hurdled with a smile. Watching her grow and mature even post-collegiately as a member of the athletic department has been great as well. She has helped our program and our sport specifically a great deal since graduating. I'm proud to say that she was one of mine.”
 
Despite the amount of time Sara had to put into athletics, she always put the student in student-athlete first. She earned AD Honor Roll honors in both the fall and spring of her senior year and Dean's List Second Honors as a sophomore.
 
She even found time for extracurricular activities, writing for the weekly student newspaper, The Pan American, and a student magazine, The Panorama. In fact, Sara served as the sports editor of The Pan American as a senior, while also serving as the President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, running for the Broncs and earning GPAs of 3.0 or higher during both semesters.
 
“She was always the brightest light we had, both in terms of intellect and ability, and attitude,” said UTPA Communication Associate Professor Greg Selber, who also serves as the faculty advisor for The Pan American. “When she was on the task, we knew it would be done well, fast, correctly and with style. There was something about her, even in that unpolished undergrad phase, which spoke of amazing promise and potential. And every step of the way she has achieved great things and exceeded expectations, no matter how great. She is definitely a special person who, even now, is continuing to blossom. I cannot recall a person who was more loved and valued than Sara, for the student paper, in the student community and in our department.”
 
Sara graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism-Advertising/PR, and then decided to pursue a Master of Business Administration at UTPA. As luck would have it, the Athletics Department had an opening for a graduate assistant in Athletic Media Relations. She applied for the job and got it.
 
Now Sara could give back to the athletic program that she loves so much while also gaining valuable experience working in a Division I athletics department.
 
Sara has had wide-ranging responsibilities during her 18 months in media relations. Her primary job became writing the profiles of current and former student-athletes and coaches on UTPABroncs.com. Sara wrote much of the content posted over the summer, allowing UTPABroncs.com to have fresh content during every workday. She has also written various other stories and contributed to the improvements of UTPABroncs.com.
 
Sara also gained experience in video work, using a camera to record most of the highlights from baseball games, tennis matches and cross country meets over the last eight months.
 
Her game day duties for basketball and volleyball have varied, from serving as a stats runner, to writing down a manual record of the game, to calling the game for the stats crew, to producing and engineering basketball broadcasts seen on UTPA Broncs All-Access.
 
“Sara is willing and able to do everything that is asked of her. She may not be perfect the first time she does something, but she learns quickly and rarely makes the same mistake twice,” said Goldberg, UTPA's Director of Athletic Media Relations. “Sara's hard work and dedication has made her an invaluable member of my staff. I am sad to lose her from my staff, but I am thrilled that she will be a member of the UTPA Athletics family for years to come.”