HFC welcomes Al Betancourt: Print Shop technician, historian, teacher, and one-time aspiring archaeologist

It’s finally official: After three years working as a temporary contractor for HFC, Graphics Technician Al Betancourt is now a full-fledged HFC team member.

“It feels good, but it doesn’t feel new, because I’ve been here for three years,” said Betancourt. “The biggest thing that’s changed is where I get my paycheck, and now I have benefits. I'm fully a part of this community. I’m finally an HFC employee now.”

Betancourt oversees the Print Shop, sometimes not-so-affectionately called the “Dungeon,” in the basement of the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center (Bldg. F). He reports to Vice President of Marketing and Communications Rhonda DeLong.

His duties include producing all types of printed and physical media – syllabi, exams, manuals, business cards, postcards, posters, displays, and “anything that comes my way” – for HFC departments and employees. Two of his frequent customers include Admissions and Recruitment and Financial Aid, supporting both departments in their efforts to communicate with students about enrolling and successfully completing their HFC programs.

Spring cleaning (years in the making)

When HFC's campuses were pretty much shut down during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Betancourt had the unenviable task of cleaning out the Print Shop, something that was many years overdue. It was a herculean task that took months, but Betancourt got it done with help from Facilities and other teammates.

“I was throwing stuff away that dated back to the 1970s and earlier,” he said. “There was even a calendar from 1982 that I threw out!”

When Ken Donovan, Al's predecessor, visited campus around the end of the Fall 2021 semester, he walked through the Print Shop and almost didn’t recognize the place.

“Ken was pretty impressed by what I had done,” said Betancourt. “Everyone was. Cleaning this place wasn’t easy.”

The massive cleaning project was an important part of Al's work during the pandemic, when printing requirements were low and provided an opportunity to re-envision the Print Shop.

“It's been great to work with Al,” said DeLong. “He is approachable and cares deeply about the College and doing good work for our departments and our students. I was very impressed by how he dug in to the work of cleaning out and modernizing the Print Shop during the pandemic. He became a whiz with spreadsheets and presentation software. He carefully evaluated dozens of pieces of outdated equipment to determine whether they could be reused anywhere. He brought the shop up to OSHA safety standards and was responsive to my requirements to essentially ‘burn the place down’ and start over. He spent months organizing, cleaning, inventorying, and disposing of countless items and pieces of equipment and supplies in the Print Shop and our large storage room. Now, with the help of other team members, we are modernizing our business model and processes, to make sure the Print Shop's work is efficient and aligned with HFC strategic priorities."

The Facilities team was instrumental in the Print Shop clean out and upgrade, too. "Reuben Brukley and his team deserve huge credit for their responsiveness to our requests to dispose of old darkroom equipment, sinks, eyewash stations, production machines, trash, and frankly, materials that probably should have required a hazmat suit," said DeLong. “They are great teammates, and we could not have done this project without their amazing help."

Early desire to become an archaeologist

Born in Royal Oak, Betancourt is the youngest of two sons of Colombian immigrants. For nearly 19 years, he has been married to Ana Maria. Together, they have two children: daughter Natalia (whom Al affectionately calls “Junior”), 15, and son Alejandro, 12. He lives with his family in Wayne. Natalia is seriously considering attending HFC when she graduates from high school.

After graduating from Athens High School in Troy, Betancourt, who is fluent in English and Spanish, earned his associate degree in liberal arts from Oakland Community College. Transferring to Oakland University in Rochester Hills, he earned his bachelor’s degree in history. He went on to earn his master’s degree in bilingual and bicultural education from Wayne State University and his teacher certification from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL.

“Originally, I wanted to be an archaeologist,” he said. “I was even accepted at the University of Central Florida, but I was talked into becoming a teacher by my aunt and other people in my family.”

For three years, Betancourt was the assistant director of Sylvan Learning Centers in Troy. He also spent four years as a Spanish teacher at Wayne High School in Huber Heights, OH.

“There were 2,300 students at Wayne High School – that’s a big school,” recalled Betancourt. “When I was teaching there, there was a woman who would create copies for the entire faculty and staff. I always thought that would be a neat job.”

Joining HFC in 2019 as a contractor

Changing professions, Betancourt went into the printing business. He was a lead project manager for FedEx for 11 years.

“I really took to the printing profession when I started at FedEx,” he said. “I learned as much as possible. Everyone had their own way of doing things. I developed my own personal style.”

Looking for a new challenge, Betancourt came to HFC in 2019 as a contractor through EnTech Staffing Solutions in Troy. He replaced longtime HFC employee Ken Donovan, who retired after more than 30 years at the College.

“Ken was very gracious and nice about showing me the ropes, making sure there was a smooth transition,” said Betancourt. “What I like about doing printing for the College is the work is much more diverse than it would be in many other places.”

“I really enjoy the work and the people here at HFC”

For Betancourt, the best part of his job is working with the faculty and staff across every department all over campus.

“I really enjoy the work and the people here at HFC,” said Betancourt. “They’re very friendly. It’s a collaborative environment.”

"Al's been very helpful and personable. He's easy to work with and very knowledgeable. He's a person you can count on, and I truly appreciate that," said HFC recruiter Delphine Davis.

That’s not to say there haven’t been any stressful moments.

“There are times when everything’s due at once, and it’s all on the same machine,” he said. “The machine can only go so fast. There have been times where I’ve had four machines running at the same time.”

Betancourt shuddered when remembering a day the color copy machine broke down. It took several days to get it repaired. Once it was fixed, he had a backlog of orders to complete. He spent an entire day working on 11 orders, one after the other.

“That was a very long day, but it wasn’t boring,” he said, laughing. “I told the people who put in these orders what happened, and they were understanding about it, which made things easier for me.”

“I can see both my kids attending college here,” said Betancourt. “Believe it or not, my history degree has helped me in this job. Historians, by nature, are very organized people. In this job, you have to order things chronologically, making it easy to apply that logic. The study of history is a good way to organize stuff. It's helped me a great deal.”