Why do we do the things that we do? What motivates us to do it?
Having a “why” for the things we do gives us purpose and direction. It gives us hope for the future.
For Mike Huss, he was content with working a stable job as the school janitor at Ione Elementary School in Ione, California. He took the job before so he could continue to work while his wife attended college. As long as it was bringing in the money and keeping a roof over their head, then he was fine with the job.
It all changed when their first child was born. He had found his why.
“When my son was about 3, I said, ‘You know what? I want to show my son that you can keep growing in life,'” Mike Huss shared. “I know he was young but between the encouragement from the teachers on campus and the motivation to do something to show my son [that] nothing’s impossible, I went back to school in the late ’90s to get my teaching credential based on those inspirations.”
Now, it was his turn to go to school.
But instead of just his wife earning for the family, he did his share, too, by balancing his full-time job and his responsibilities at school and for his family. He did this for the next four years.
He was working 40 hours a week, from 2:00 pm to 11:00 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and 6:00 pm to 2:00 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And during the day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he attended his classes at Sacramento State.
And it all paid off.
Less than a week after graduating from Sacramento State, he was hired as a teacher at Ione Elementary School, the same school he attended as a young boy.
“I was literally the school janitor on a Monday. I worked a double shift. I worked from 6 a.m. till about 10 p.m. that night, getting the school ready. The very next day, Tuesday, I was in my first teachers’ meeting. Thursday of that same week, I had my first class,” Mike recalled.
When he was still working as a school janitor, he made it a point to connect with the students at the school and the school children loved him for it.
And the teachers saw that and encouraged Mike to become a teacher.
“A lot of teachers here at Ione Elementary kept saying, ‘You’re wasting your time. Look at these kids. They are attracted to you … and they want to be around you and they learn from you. You need to go back and become a teacher,'” Mike shared.
And all the hard work was worth it.
For the next 19 years, Mike would teach in the first, second, and fifth grades. It has become, for him, a very rewarding career.
And because of his perseverance and desire to connect, he recently got an upgrade.
Mike Huss went from janitor to teacher and now, he’s the school principal at Ione Elementary School.
“I really think that I can do this job … because I have the support of everyone,” Mike said. “I have to try my best every day for them. And at the end of the year, I’ve told many people if the worst thing I say is, ‘I tried my best and fell,’ I’ll try my best again next year and hopefully be even better. And I try to keep that perspective.”
Watch how connected Principal Mike Huss is with the students then and even more so now in the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
