After more than six years at the helm of The Meridian Star, Crystal Dupré, publisher is leaving for Texas.

    Today is Dupré’s last day with the Meridian Star

    She has taken a job as publisher with The Eagle in Bryan/College Station, Texas.

    Dupré began her newspaper career in 1995, shortly after getting married and finishing her Master’s degree. She started as advertising director for The Laurel Leader-Call, which was then owned by American Publishing. The next few years involved a few moves — first to Meridian as advertising director, then back to Laurel as publisher and finally back to Meridian as publisher. In the meantime, American Publishing had sold both papers to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.

    Although Dupré is excited about the new opportunities ahead of her and her family, it is not without regret that she is leaving the community that she has called home.

    “I have grown so much, personally and professionally, through the things I’ve been able to experience and do, the relationships in the community,” Dupré said, “and the relationships here at the newspaper.”

    She said the community welcomed her here.

    “This community has been a fantastic experience for me. You have to take the initiative, and I took the initiative to get involved in the community,” she said. “The rewards have just been fantastic.”

    In addition to numerous other boards and activities, Dupré served as president of the Meridian Rotary Club and the Meridian Area Navy League.

    “Both of those organizations allowed me to meet people that I probably never would have met otherwise, especially the Navy League side,” Dupré said. “If you’re not involved with that, you miss a huge piece of this community that you never would know. I’ve met some great friends there.”

    Dupré said she has enjoyed meeting people from all walks of life.

    “I’ve met such a diverse group of people,” Dupré said. “There’s nowhere I can go in this town without somebody saying ‘hi’ to me,” she said. “It’s a sense of belonging and I have that here. I have no regrets.”

    As she prepares to leave for her new job, she is looking forward to the challenges ahead.

    “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. It’s one that, as good as it is, I still almost couldn’t go because of leaving what I have here,” Dupré said. “At the end, it’s a great opportunity for my entire family.”

    For now, she’ll make the trek alone, but will be joined later by her husband Ken and their three children, Reagan, 16, Haley, 15, and Christopher, 9.

    “CNHI gave me my first publishing opportunity and they’ve been very supportive and very good to me through all these years so it’s been a tough decision to leave all of that,” Dupré said.

    One good thing about the move, she said, is that Texas A&M is now a part of the Southeastern Conference.

    “For me, that is huge and I’m a huge Mississippi State fan and so are my children,” she said. “It at least allows us to stay within the SEC and we’ll still get to see Mississippi State when they come to College Station to play.”

    And who will she root for when MSU plays Texas A&M?

    “There’s no question. I’ll have to root for Mississippi State. All the other times I’ll root for the Aggies,” she said.