Unsung Hero: Personable Eagle Print Duo Brightens The Carney Basement

Carney has to be one of the worst parts of campus. The painfully old building is not all bad, however, as it has a hidden treasure in the depths of its basement. For five years, Eagle Print has been churning out all of BC’s student and faculty printing needs, and doing it with a smile.

Collegiate Press moved onto campus when Xerox’s contract on campus ran out, and with it came Richard Crear and Tom Mayo, two printing powerhouses. The two have been with Eagle Print from the start and bring a light to the dark of the basement.

While printing generally would not be thought of as the most fun-inducing activity, trips to these two always bring laughs. When Eagle Print is mentioned, the resounding response is either, "What’s Eagle Print?" or "Those guys are so nice!" Crear and Mayo always have smiles on their faces and often joke around with customers while they wait. "We try and make it fun for everybody," Crear said. "Fun for ourselves, fun for the people that come in."

The office is a joy in itself. With Mayo humming along to The Doors’ "Light My Fire," and pictures, thank you emails, and past prints lining the walls, a trip to Eagle Print turns getting things printed into a good time. "I usually end up hanging out with them," said junior Mariana Eizayaga of her frequent trips to Eagle Print.

When thinking of the most outrageous thing he ever had to print, Mayo joked, "For me it was Arts Council—it was a woman who did a self-nude. Rev. Howard McLendon walked in when it was on the computer screen. It was kind of like, ‘Oh, Father, I’m not really looking at that, really!’"

While the team is comical, their commitment to the customer is no joke. When talking about their work with the book

The Misfit Sock, Crear said, "You know it’s fun, it’s exciting, seeing it from the beginning to the packaging and everything in between, it’s just, it’s fun to be a part of it." Self-described problem solvers, Mayo and Crear welcome every task without questioning it, and even make the designing process easier.

Eagle Print makes an effort to actualize any project that comes into the shop. The staff makes you feel as though they actually care about your project, no matter how small, and they really do. "You know, someone comes in with an idea, and they’ve got sketches on a piece of paper, and they’re like, ‘Well I want to kind of do this,’ and we get to make it a reality for them, it’s the fun part of this job," Crear said. "Creating things that people are looking to do and having it come out better than expected."

Traffic in the office varies, as a light day consists of about 20 jobs, while a busy day could mean 40 or 50. With the help of three student workers who give about 30 hours a week combined, Crear and Mayo welcome all kinds of tasks. Customers can submit projects online or bring PDFs, JPEGs, or ideas into the shop and have them printed right away. "We print anything from black-and-white copies to banners on canvas," Crear said. "Promotional products, t-shirts, there isn’t anything we can’t get done."

For a usually unreasonably low price (the team will work with you to find ways to save money), Eagle Print can design and create copies for a class to advertising products for student organizations and everything in between. "We try to be a one-stop, for anybody," Mayo said. Whether it is in the shop or if they have to send it to someone to get it done, anything you can put an image on, Eagle Print can do.

Besides the fact that PDFs are always the way to go, the two explained that the most important thing that they want students to know is that they are there. "I’ve had seniors come in here to bind their thesis after they’ve printed it in the library, and they say, ‘Oh, I never even knew this was here,’" Crear said.

Though they have been present on campus for five years, their hidden location makes their presence less visible. "We’ve had students that are juniors that come in say, ‘Oh, this is the first time I’ve been here," Mayo said.

Though many students have never ventured down through those double-doors, those who have know how helpful and engaging Eagle Print is and know that they will always leave happier than when they walked in. Why wait in line for hours at the printers in the library or CTRC when you can get professional printing and a laugh at Eagle Print?