Mario, the Man: A Humans of NIC Feature

Mario Arechiga works as a custodian in the Christianson Gymnasium while taking classes at NIC. He is responsible for cleaning the facilities used by Cardinal athletes and fans. He spends his time picking up water cups left on the basketball court and braving the smells of the locker rooms. After competitions, he and his colleagues spend late nights cleaning the stands.

Despite his menial job, Arechiga has built relationships with numerous people on campus, taking advantage of his constant presence to not only clean up the gym but be an enjoyable presence among athletes, students and faculty. This is Mario Arechiga’s story.

“In August of 2019, I kind of had enough of living in Boise. I was over maybe 390 pounds. Just kind of feeling like shit every day. I was working part-time jobs, stuff like that, but I was mainly staying around for my dad who had a stroke, and was left paralyzed in the left side of his body. And I was, you know, his caretaker.

“My uncle has always pushed me to better myself, go to school. I went over to his place one day. I just said, ‘I don’t know what to do, I don’t know where my life is going.’ I knew I’d probably die in maybe less than 10 years if I kept going the way I was going.

“My brothers lived [in Coeur d’Alene]. Attended NIC. One of them was coming back, the other was staying and needed a roommate.
My uncle was like, ‘you should go and room with him, start college.’
I was 23, still hadn’t found out what I wanted to do. So I said ‘yeah.’

“It was a pain- not in the sense of like, ‘ugh I don’t wanna do this,’ but more like it was painful emotionally. I was scared, I didn’t know how to do things, how to live on my own. I just pushed myself even though it was hard for me to do; I was pretty much crying on the way up.

“There’s not the comfort I had at home where you know, my mom made meals every day, there was food all the time. I didn’t have that luxury, so I could set mealtimes for myself. I started intermittent fasting, and that helped a lot. it stopped me from eating at night, snacking all the time.

“I love my family, I didn’t want to leave them. But I also knew it was for the best. And it has been. I started school. English has been my worst class- I’ve taken it two times before, and I hate writing essays. That’s the big thing, I just don’t like writing. The anxiety that comes over me is worse than writer’s block, I just can’t get over it.

“When COVID happened, I didn’t want to do online [classes]. So I was here, but not doing what I came up here to do, and after that year, I decided I needed to start making changes. So the next semester, I retook math. I tried taking only two classes at a time. Failed math and English, but not my CITE classes. The next semester, I failed English again.

“But I was still losing weight. After those semesters, I had dropped by 100 pounds. I feel a lot better. I’m more confident that I can accomplish things. I’m more comfortable talking to people. I joined a club! The American Indian Student Alliance; went to powwows, started doing more things.

“I try to be friendly to everyone. No matter what clique or group they’re from. You know, the wrestlers, the basketball players, the volleyball players. I think they all like me. Some people who’ve been here as long as me have told me they noticed me changing.

“I decided to take MATH-123 again. I decided just to take it on its own, and I passed it with an A. I started taking IT classes again. I’ve been learning a lot. It’s been going good. I’ve met a lot of people here this last year.

“I met a girl, dated her. I had never talked to a girl with the intention of dating her my whole life. We dated for a few weeks, but she wasn’t feeling me after that. That hurt a lot. But it’s cool.

“Working here as a custodian has helped because I’m always here. So people always ask me how I’m doing and stuff. I like that, I like this job- it’s easy. It’s not that hard, except for after games, it gets tough.

“It’s been a journey. I appreciate everyone I’ve met ’cause they’ve helped me grow. That uncle, who was the main person to push me. I’m considered a first-generation college student, even though I’m nontraditional. I’m 28 now, it’s taken me this long, and it’s a little embarrassing. But some people take more time.

“What’s helped me a lot is [the wrestling] coach. He puts up motivational quotes- right when you walk in, you can smell the sweat first, then you see the whiteboard. There’s been a few motivational quotes that have made me cry. It was during a part of my life where I was dealing with heartbreak, and I can’t remember the quote, but whatever that coach is doing, he’s doing a great job. That pushed me even though I’m not a wrestler, I’m just the custodian that cleans up after [them].

“I’m the oldest of four. I’m not a very good leader. But I do like to lead by example. And, when I started making changes, my younger cousins started looking up to me and seeing that I’d made these changes. That it’s possible to do that. It’s not too late to make changes.

“My brother was frustrated with me, ‘Oh, you could’ve done this a lot earlier than you did,’ and, what’s the point of crying about it now? Cry for a bit, get over it, and continue going. I’m glad I’ve kind grown out of being embarrassed by it. I still get embarrassed, I still feel stupid, and it’s not gonna change. But, the thing that is gonna change is where I’m at. Hopefully somewhere I’m happy, or making money, doing the things that I want to do.

“I still haven’t figured out where I want to go yet. There’s a lot of possibilities, but I usually like to do things on the spot. When it happens, I’ll choose a direction to go; I don’t really plan too much. I enjoy the struggle- it helps me learn, and it encourages me to ask for help. What a lot of people don’t know how to do is ask for help. You may feel stupid, you may look stupid, but if you’re not going forward, if you’re stuck, it’s good to reach out for a hand, ask for help.”