From Buffing Floors to Art Buff
Micah House never expected to go to college. He never expected that he would one day meet the perfect girl, be the first in his family to get a degree, or land his dream job either, but he did all of those things. Diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he struggled academically throughout his high school years. The only place where House really felt like he could be himself was art class.
“I found that art was my release. When I was struggling, I could go to the art room. I was good at it and it was what I liked to do… I’ve known from a young age that art was what I was going to do,” said House.
At the age of 14, House got his worker’s permit in order to help out his family financially and began working as a custodian at Cabot High School. When House graduated from high school and began attending UCA, he returned to Cabot during the summers to continue his work as a custodian. He loved his time on the UCA campus, but he still worried he would not graduate due to his academic struggles. Once again, his art classes helped him through the tough times, and House became the first person in his family to graduate from college.
“The teachers and the professors here…they are so encouraging, and I’ve never been to a school that’s so supportive of our education, in making sure that we see it through to the end. And I’m not going to lie and say that there weren’t times when I thought ‘I’m going to have to drop out because I can’t handle it’. There were times I thought ‘I cannot do this’, but just like in grade school, my art classes were my release. I had enough support from my education professors to push me along, and I got through it. My wife was a big help in pushing me through it,” House said.
House met a girl and fell in love with her back in his younger years in Cabot but never dreamed it would come to anything. Years later, they ran into one another on UCA campus, and they were later married in 2013. After graduating, House was also offered a job at Cabot High School as a high school art teacher, allowing him to return to his hometown and family.
“I’m ecstatic. I can’t even describe how happy I am to be in my dream job. It landed in my lap and I couldn’t be happier,” said House, beaming from ear to ear.