Devin Bartolotta Is Saying Goodbye!

KTTC’s Devin Bartolotta had her final day on KTTC on July 11^th and is heading to Baltimore, where she will soon be reporting at WJZ, (Baltimore's CBS affiliate). Her new position will be as a five-day-a-week reporter.

“The job will be less intense in terms of what my responsibilities are, and more intense in terms of what the work requires because there is so much more hard news, so much more crime, much bigger stories than I am used to, so it will be a little overwhelming at times, but it's nothing that Rochester hasn't prepared me for," said Bartolotta.

As Devin announced her departure, she noted how bittersweet it is and how much she will miss this area “Minnesota has been a great home for the last three years and I've loved my time here in Rochester and made so many amazing friends and wonderful memories, but for me, I'm 950 miles away from home so the opportunity to move within a four-hour drive, I couldn't pass that up.” she said.

While many people will be sad to see Devin leave because they love her on the news, I’m sad to see her leave because I love her on the news AND in real life! She has quickly become one of my closest friends, she's always SO MUCH FUN and throws the BEST theme parties!

Last summer she had a beach party at her house. Yes, everyone has that friend that throws a beach-themed party, but Devin stepped it up and created an ACTUAL beach!  She had TRUCKLOADS of sand dropped off in her back yard. THOUSANDS of pounds of sand, some tiki torches, a fire pit, live goldfish in a swimming pool, and lots of coconut bikinis, and all of the sudden we were on a beach in the middle of Rochester! (I’ll post pictures next week of her "Murder Mystery" going away party!)   Here are some of my favorite "behind the scenes" memories with Devin:

The night we painted fruit themed bowls for the Empty Bowls event for Channel One

This was what we thought would be the promo photo for if/when we got our own show together....I'm still holding out that that will happen some day!

The ultimate Rochester Halloween Costume:  Devin as The Mayo Clinic

A "girls in Rochester media" Christmas party, where we all learned so, so, so much from each other. Only three of us in this photo still work in Rochester. (Left to right: Mary McGuire, Megan Kennedy, Tracy McCray, Jen Koski, Ali Killam, Kim Davis, and Devin Bartolotta. Not pictured because she took the photo: Robin Wolfram.)

For more on Devin, make sure to read all about her in my "Seen and Heard" column in this weekend’s Post Bulletin!