For his first job at HCC, Gene Kingsley ’91 checked student IDs in the computer lab as a work-study student. Proving adept at fixing broken terminals, a skill for which he had no formal training, the liberal arts major was later hired as the college’s first help desk manager. “There was no desk, no phone, no computer, and no people,” Kingsley recalls. “They allowed me to build it from scratch.” Today, Kingsley’s resume reads like a history of the information age. For 13 years, he helped guide HCC through many technological advances, including the introduction of digital phones, the first internet-accessible network, and campus wi-fi. Along the way, his title changed to reflect his increasing responsibilities: networking manager, director of information technology, and, finally, director of information security. He finally left HCC for IT jobs in Boston, and at UMass Amherst and other places, including Springfield, where he is now the cyber range manager at the Richard E. Neal Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. “I love to help people get into the field, understand it, love it,” he said. Even though his job is technically oriented, he still applies the same principles he learned working on the HCC help desk. “Soft skills are important,” he said. “Computers are easy. People are the challenge. One of the things I used to tell the staff was, take care of the person first, then take care of the problem.”
Gene Kingsley ’91 is the cyber range manager at The Richard E. Neal Cybersecurity Center of Excellence.
Ashley Anderson ’14
Assembling Solutions
As a new resident of Presque Isle, Maine, Ashley Anderson ’14 found work as a crisis counselor for The Opportunity Alliance, a nonprofit social service agency. In that role, she learned of the unique struggles facing citizens in rural Maine. Many owned homes that had fallen into disrepair and become uninhabitable. They either lacked the money for repairs or access to reputable contractors. Her solution: tiny houses. Anderson recalled her days as a work-study student in the theater department at HCC. Working under theater technician Steve Bailey ’77, she learned how to design and build stage sets that were easily assembled. Using those skills, she started building kits for tiny, micro-shelter cabins. Each kit can be assembled by two people using basic tools in one to three weeks. Prices range from $9,500 to $25,600 and can be shipped anywhere in New England. She drew even more from her experience at HCC when she launched her business, Anderson North, LLC. “My electronic media classes with Justin West and Jay Ducharme (both retired) really helped with promotion, marketing, and setting up videos and content,” she said. “They were incredibly encouraging.” Anderson’s business plans include adding solar panels, water purification systems, and bathroom kits. “When I leave this earth,” she said, “I want to have done something that made a difference.”
Trusted Operator
As a new student recently relocated from California, Barney Garcia ’24 didn’t waste any time getting involved at HCC. During his first year, he joined Student Senate, restarted the Emerging Business Leaders Club, and took a job in the Business Office. In his second year, 2023-2024, he served as student trustee. “I felt like folks here already knew me, as if it was a familiar place I’d been before,” Garcia said back in 2023. Still not one to lurk, Garcia, 23, was recently elected student trustee at Westfield State University, where he is completing a bachelor’s degree in political science and public administration. He is also co-founder and president of the Queer Straight Alliance at Westfield and the commuter representative on the Student Government Association. Outside of that, he maintains a strong connection to HCC, where he works part time in the facilities office and helps manage the department budget. But he’s hoping to do more there, having recently completed the certification process for a second-class fireman’s license. “That’s what you legally need to operate a high-pressure boiler,” he said. HCC has three of them, and Garcia finds himself on a possible career path he did not expect. “The operators who work here say this is the perfect kind of plant to really learn,” he said. “I’m really excited.”
Barney Garcia ’24 stands next to boiler 3 in the HCC Facilities building.
Game Time
Luis Rodriguez ’19 is the creator of Luturas, a Latin-Caribbean influenced tabletop card and dice game.
The coquí is a common tree frog in Puerto Rico. Coquí is also a main character in the world of Luturas, a tabletop card and dice game created by Luis Rodriguez ’19 that incorporates Latin-Caribbean culture and storytelling. “Luturas” itself combines the Spanish words for light (luz) and creatures (criaturas) — thus, “creatures of the light.” “The Taíno were the indigenous people from Puerto Rico, and they were very famous for their symbols, and one of them was the coquí,” said Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican native who now lives in Springfield. “All those cards imprinted in my coquí design — sun, a shield, a sword — are a reference to Taíno symbols.” A few years ago, during his spare time, Rodriguez, a supervisor at the nonprofit Center for Human Development, founded a graphic design company called Hyperagua Studios and enrolled at HCC to learn more about visual arts. He cites influences from graphic design instructor Kenneth “Vance” Chatel and art historian Victor Katz. “Professor Katz taught us how to do professional critiques about history,” said Rodriguez. “With that in mind, my characters can reflect accurate history, and I can do an appropriate reflection in my character designs and references to different cultures.” While Rodriguez hopes Luturas will one day be available in retail stores, games can be printed on demand and purchased through luturas.net.
Thrive coordinator Ben Ostiguy, left, food pantry coordinator Elizabeth Eastman, and Sheila Dion ’93, center, with Dion’s son John and her fiancé Dean, during an August 2025 visit to HCC.
Rising Together
It seems fitting that Sheila Dion ’93 would be interested in HCC’s Thrive Center and Food Pantry. Dion is the founder and volunteer director of Erin’s Angels, a nonprofit agency in central New York that delivers free meals to hungry children. “Food is essential to growth, learning, and a bright future,” Dion said in an October 2024 HCC Spotlight interview. “It is more than sustenance. It is the foundation of health, happiness, and dreams. But, for too many kids, it is a daily struggle. I believe that every child deserves the opportunity to grow, learn, and thrive without the burden of hunger.” Late last summer, Dion, who grew up in Springfield, stopped by the Thrive Center to talk to Thrive coordinator Ben Ostiguy and food pantry coordinator Elizabeth Eastman. It was Dion’s first time back on campus since she graduated. She left impressed. “Returning to HCC and seeing the Thrive Center filled me with so much pride and gratitude,” Dion said. “To know that my alma mater cares for students not only with education but also with food, school supplies and hygiene items shows the true heart of western Mass. It really proves that when we lift each other up, we rise together.”
‘A Really Special Place’
HCC Foundation board member Ted Hebert ’71, left, and President George Timmons.
Ted Hebert ’71 attended HCC when it was still downtown, after the 1968 fire that destroyed the main college building but before the new campus opened on Homestead Avenue. “I went to the old school when it was just three buildings,” he said. Hebert has spent a lot of time on the “new” campus in the past 11 years, having been first appointed to the Board of Trustees by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2014 and reappointed in 2020 by Gov. Charlie Baker. Although he completed his final term last summer, he stopped by the board’s November meeting to say a formal farewell. “I have so many good memories here,” he said. “Thank you for this journey that I’ve been on.” Aside from his work on the HCC board, Hebert, founder and owner of Teddy Bear Pools & Spas in Chicopee, has been a longtime financial supporter of the HCC Foundation. The scholarship he and his wife set up, the Ted and Barbara Hebert Teddy Bear Pools Scholarship for Working Students, supports 10 HCC students every year. “He’s been a great ambassador for HCC,” said President George Timmons. And he will continue to be, having accepted an invitation to serve on the HCC Foundation’s Board of Directors. “HCC has meant a lot to me,” he said. “This is just a beautiful campus, but I think it’s not the structures that makes it great; it’s the people. It’s just a really special place.”
