News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Espiridion Villarreal works on his computer in his office at the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Transportation Service Center in Alpena.

ALPENA — One of Alpena Community College’s most successful training programs is its concrete technology program, through which Espiridion Villarreal, transportation technician at the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Transportation Service Center in Alpena, got his start.

Villarreal grew up downstate.

In high school, as he was researching colleges, he came across ACC and the concrete technology program.

Ultimately, he decided to pursue a career in the military and joined the Marine Corps out of high school.

He stayed in the Marine Corps for four years and then reconsidered his options. Villarreal revisited the concrete technology website and researched the program further.

“There’s a 99.5% job placement,” he said. “That was huge for me.”

Villarreal left the Marine Corps in 2016 and started at ACC that fall. He bought a house in Alpena and moved himself, his wife, and his daughter upstate. His first job in the area was at the Habitat for Humanity, where he started before his first semester.

“In my two years of school, I had my son, built a family here in Alpena, and made a lot of friends,” said Villarreal.

Villareal completed his summer construction internship, a core requirement of the concrete technology program, at TYME Consulting Engineers, based in Livonia.

Villareal earned his degree in 2018.

“I was offered quite a bit of jobs,” he said. “That’s another great thing about the program is, even as to your internship, you have a vast variety of what you want to do, where you want to go.”

There are jobs open in states all over the country, from Wisconsin to Colorado to Tennessee.

His first job after college was at Rock Products, a ready mix concrete company based out of Saginaw. He worked as the plant manager at the company’s plant in Kinde.

Villareal had been working at Rock Products for about a year when his wife’s old boss in Alpena asked her to come work up there for a summer.

“She actually called me up and said, ‘Hey, like, I love Alpena. You gotta start finding a job up here,'” he said.

Villareal’s search took about a year before he landed a position at MDOT. He started there in 2020.

Most of his work is done in the summer. He helps inspect construction sites on state-owned roads such as M-32. During an inspection, Villareal will make sure construction workers are using the right materials and using them correctly. He also tests materials like compacted aggregates, which are geological materials like sand or rock “compacted” to increase their weight per unit volume, according to Cemex. Day-to-day operations at the construction sites are meticulously documented.

In the winter, Villareal spends his time looking over and collecting data on future job sites. Once data is collected, he compiles it into a submittal for the design team to consider. Additionally, he goes through various trainings to keep his certifications and licenses up to date.

Villareal’s pathway is not the only route to take after graduating from the concrete tech program.

“The possibilities are almost endless,” Villareal said.