After losing his dad at an early age, a Dixie State University student was inspired to go into the medical field.
Micah Anderson, a senior biology major from La Verkin, said he was only 9 years old when a gang member murdered his dad.
“It was one of those CSI moments where he ran off and it was like ‘who did it,’” Anderson said. “The crazy thing was his mom found out and turned him into the police.”
When the police asked Anderson’s family if they wanted to pursue the death penalty, they immediately argued against it.
“We didn’t want to take another life, so we said he could be in jail for life,” Anderson said. “You know it’s hard [because] everybody goes through those hard times, but I think time heals wounds.”
Anderson said he will always remember this traumatic event, but he learned early on that he wanted to do something good with his life. He said he wanted to be involved in the medical field because medicine has saved millions of lives, which encouraged him to pursue a career in pharmacy. After Anderson graduates from DSU this semester, he is attending Campbell University School of Pharmacy in North Carolina.
“I always joke and say, ‘I’m going to be a legal drug dealer’ which is pretty much what a pharmacist is because we deal with drugs legally,” Anderson said.
Although Anderson jokes about his future career, he said his dad also inspired his comedy.
“I like to laugh [because] laughter just seems to help you forget those bad moments,” Anderson said.
Jimmy Fallon has also promoted one of Micah Anderson’s jokes, which led him to create his own Instagram page. He said it all started after he tweeted at Jimmy Fallon. On “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Fallon has the hashtag of the week segment where people can tweet funny things that may air during the show. Deciding to contribute to the segment, Anderson tweeted that once he got stuck in trampoline springs and his dog tried to hump his leg as a result.
“I sent that in just as a joke, but it actually got on the show,” Anderson said. “I watched it live and started freaking out.”
After seeing his submission broadcast on television, it inspired him to start writing jokes and share his comedy with others through his Instagram page, @stg_jokes. Although he didn’t expect his Instagram page to become very popular, within a year he gained over 7,000 followers.
“I don’t think I’m that funny, but apparently other people do,” Anderson said.
Sydney Anderson, Micah Anderson’s wife, said people would be surprised by the amount of time and effort he dedicates to @stg_jokes.
“I can’t help but laugh at his silly little jokes and there are high school kids who will randomly see him and want to take a picture with him,” Sydney Anderson said. “He’s famous.”
Falcon Parker, Micah Anderson’s childhood friend and senior exercise science major from Hurricane, said he has also added to the humor on the Instagram page.
“We will be hanging out and laughing and he or I will come up with something so funny and he will reword it into a joke for @stg_jokes,” Parker said. “It’s all his work [but] I just call myself inspiration.”
Aside from Micah Anderson’s Instagram page, he also made a YouTube channel called STG JOKES . So far, he has uploaded four videos to his channel.
After this the spring semester ends, Micah Anderson said he plans to keep the Instagram page running even though he will be moving across the country to continue school.