Unconventional students at Rice 2017: Michael Groth

Michael Groth, a Baker College senior majoring in mechanical engineering, says his story is proof that you never really know what to expect in life.

The summer before arriving at Rice, Groth uploaded a Pokémon-themed video to his YouTube channel and didn’t give it much thought as he settled into college life. “One day I checked back on it and said wow this is 10,000 views. I realized this video is going to pass up my most viewed video of all time and it hit a million views in December,” Groth said.

After hitting that milestone, he began putting more effort into his YouTube channel by creating weekly content. His channel now has nearly half a million subscribers. “It suddenly grew and I started making money off of it and I realized this could someday become my job,” Groth said.

After graduation, Michael intends to pursue YouTube and explore other creative opportunities full time. “I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen so it’s kind of scary, but it’s also really exciting,” he said.