Home Again: Mike’s Story
A Superior native reflects on leaving home, coming back and building a career close to the place that shaped him.
Growing up in Superior, Arizona, Mike spent his afternoons coming home from school, jumping on his dirt bike and heading straight into the desert.
He loved growing up here. But like many young people in small towns, there came a point when he was ready to see what else was out there.
“I had enough,” Mike says. “I wanted to get the heck out of this little town.”
Years later, his perspective changed.
“Home means something different to me now,” he says. “It’s not just where I grew up, but it’s where I chose to come back to.”
Coming back to more than a place
For Mike, returning to Superior meant coming back to friends and family, familiar places and a community that had been part of his life for generations.
One of those connections is especially close to home.
Mike’s mother was born in the house where he and his wife now spend time tending the yard and plants they have worked to restore together.
“My mom was actually born in this house,” he says. “We fixed up the yard. We just have a passion for creating spaces and all the plants.”
For Mike, knowing that generations of his family have shared that same space gives it a deeper meaning.
“It’s special that we get to come out and enjoy the same space that my grandparents walked in.”
Building a career close to home
That connection across generations extends to Mike’s career.
Today, Mike is Production Site Support Superintendent at Resolution Copper. He has worked at Resolution Copper for more than 21 years, supporting the technology, servers and networks behind the project’s operations and watching the project evolve along the way.
He is also surrounded by coworkers whose families share generations of mining history.
“When we’re at work and we talk about being second, third, fourth generation, it’s not uncommon,” Mike says. “A lot of us that work there have generations that have worked at the same exact property.”
For Mike, those connections are woven into the community itself, where mining families have worked alongside one another and lived as neighbors generation after generation.
Seeing Superior differently
The town Mike once wanted to leave is now the place he chooses to call home.
“Superior is just tranquil,” he says. “Time runs a little slower here.”
There are still plenty of trails to explore, along with the saguaros, desert plants, wildlife and surrounding Tonto National Forest that Mike has known since childhood. But today, he sees something else here too: potential and hope for what comes next.
And after more than two decades building his career in the community where he grew up, Mike sees himself as part of that future.
“At this point in my life, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” he says. “It’s exciting to be a part of this and to think that my family will continue to be a part of what’s happening in this town.”
Mike’s story has come full circle. The kid who once jumped on his dirt bike and headed into the desert, eager to eventually find something beyond his small town, found something worth coming back to.
Home.
Watch Mike’s story and hear what coming home to Superior means to him.
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