By Terra Avilla
I entered the Lassen High School Counseling office today like I have a million times before. And like a million times before, I was a disheveled mess that needed help with a student. And without fail, I found that help in Lassen High School’s very own Micah Freeman.
I met Micah when I first started as the Lassen High School Resource Officer. Micah was one of the two guidance counselors and I instantly knew that he was going to be my friend whether he liked it or not.
What first impressed me about Micah was that he listened. Like really listened. To whoever needed to be heard. Time and time again I sat in meetings where teens would confide in me only because Micah was there. There are hundreds of teens who felt like, in their world, they had at least one person who cared for them, and that person was Micah.
I will always remember a very big case I worked on that all started because a teenage student trusted him. Trusted him enough to tell him the not so happy things that were happening in her house. In a world where every other adult had let her down, she felt like she could trust him, and she was right. Micah consistently checked on her (and me) as I investigated that case. He was invested in her wellbeing, just like I know he is invested in the thousands of other students who have coasted through his caseload over the years. Ask any of his former students and I bet you would be hard-pressed to find a single one that wouldn’t have something nice to say about him.
He really is a precious jewel hidden away in our very own little community.
However, Micah, like so many of our community’s treasures spreads his love in more places than just in his career. Micah is a dedicated family man, a member of his church, and a friend to so many people.
His sense of humor and positive attitude makes him one of the highlights of my day and I know he brightens the day of everyone he works with (Just ask Shanda Hooven, Heather Eastwood and Dawn Lightsey).
Micah spends so much of his day and time fighting for teenagers and being their advocate. Yet he sometimes finds time to be a great husband to his beautiful wife, Phoebe and father to his son and daughter. When I say, he is “the salt of the earth” I really, truly mean it guys. I have never heard him gossip or complain. When he doesn’t like something, he is problem solving orientated even when I am trying to just complain and be a whiner.
His positivity is contagious, to me, to the faculty, and to the staff. There hasn’t been a day that I have seen him that his mere presence hasn’t made it better. He makes Lassen High School better and our community better, which is why he is one of the reasons I love the place we live.
