RioTECH digital media students tour printing business

RIO RANCHO — RioTECH students walked away from a local printing business Wednesday with more than customized keychains and nametags.

The take-home message from its CEO was that before they knock on the door to apply for a job, they must have ambition and a creative spirit.

The students from Rio Rancho Public Schools’ new career-technical education school heard that sage advice - and much more - from Norm “Storm” Ruth, vice president of Deluxe Design, 3646 NM Hwy 528 NE.

“I was thrilled to see their level of interest and excitement,” Ruth said in an interview following the two-hour tour of the company, 3646 NM Hwy 528 NE.

The tour came as RioTECH comes down the homestretch of its first school year and a milestone for Deluxe Design as it celebrates 40 years in business this September.

RioTECH, in partnership with Central New Mexico Community College, offers Rio Rancho high school students the ability to earn college credits in a variety of skilled trades - and they sometimes share classes with CNM students, which was evident during Wednesday’s tour. The primary hope with RioTECH, school officials have said, is to boost the workforce pipeline for Sandoval County and keep jobs in New Mexico.

The CNM and RioTECH students who toured Deluxe Design were enrolled in a dual-enrollment digital media course taught by CNM instructor Michael Ellis. The class teaches fundamentals of design and software.

“What I teach is the beginning of the digital art pipeline - (students) are learning how to make graphics on a computer,” Ellis said while accompanying the students Wednesday. “Going down to Deluxe Design, they’re a full-scale print shop. It’s useful for the students to see what they’re doing goes beyond a computer screen.”

The tour itself was organized by Dr. Kris Johnson, the principal of RioTECH, who met Ruth at a community function. The two of them agreed to visit their workplaces, and what followed blossomed into a tour for Johnson’s students to see Deluxe Design.

“My interest is that all the youth get opportunities in … fields that they’re interested in,” Ruth said in an interview. “I knew that from this fertile ground of education and vocational trade (at RioTECH), it would be great to meet some of the students.”

Ruth told the students he was impressed with RioTECH and they were “fortunate” to enroll in such a school. When Ruth asked for a show of hands, asking how many students wanted to be graphic designers, a few raised them.

Ruth explained during the tour that Deluxe Design was founded in 1986, when he and his wife, Sandy, purchased Deluxe Engraving Service in Rio Rancho. What started out as a two-person jewelry business operating out of a single-car garage transformed into a 50-person company  making signs, awards, and screen prints out of the former J&R Vintage Auto Museum. Deluxe Design’s products have been part of major events, including music festivals like Lollapalooza and sporting events like the FIFA World Cup.

The company headquarters boasts plenty of floor space for printing and cutting, which Ruth demonstrated for students. Through it all were lessons in business from a professional with four decades of experience - like when Ruth stressed the importance of his designers seeing their projects being printed.

“We want our designers to spend time on the production floor, understanding both the limitations and cool things they can do,” he said. 

During a demonstration of a large printer, Ruth told students the file name of the product was “woopsie” to show them how a mistake can have a drastic impact.

“This is money down the drain,” Ruth said. “Accuracy and preciseness of the design team is so much weight on your shoulders to get it right. Now, mistakes happen, and we just go back and correct them and take steps to try to avoid it reoccurring. That’s why I wanted you to see that.”

Following the tour, RioTECH students Evan Trujillo and Makayla Salazar spoke highly of what they saw.

“I expected it to be a warehouse and a couple printers - I was shocked,” Salazar said. 

Trujillo said Deluxe Design was different from what he envisioned.

“(I liked) how they set everything up. I looked around, I observed the chemistry of some of the people working together - I thought that was really good,” Trujillo said.