2009-2010 Annual Report - Wayland Academy

Thomas Platt `71
Tom Platt was at one time the sort of student who
liked to dabble in the chemistry lab in the basement of
the old Linfield Hall. Chemistry was his favorite
subject, but one of his favorite aspects of chemistry
was not on the syllabus: “Things that go boom!” That
became an independent study project. Independent in
the sense that there wasn’t much supervision when he
and his friends would make their own chemical
concoctions to see if they could blow holes in the
concrete floor of the basement. They could.
Tom is now Dr. Platt, a physician specializing in
internal medicine in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where
Tom `71 and Wendy Platt
he also serves as the medical director of Cherry Street
Health Services. The line between creating explosions in the basement of Wayland’s science building and becoming a
physician isn’t necessarily the clearest, but Dr. Platt now points to his experiences at Wayland as “the most important
formative years of my life. That is an age when you go from childhood to adulthood, and the fact that that occurred for me
at Wayland… I’ve always appreciated that. It offered me opportunities I couldn’t get elsewhere.”
In particular, Dr. Platt recalls how grateful he was for the constant faculty support he had at Wayland. “The wonderful
thing about Wayland is that the doors don’t close at 3,” he said. “The faculty are always available. If there was a problem
in the evening they would invite you in and work with you.”
At the root of Tom Platt’s donations to Wayland are two primary sources: gratitude and hope. Even as a student he recalls
wanting to be able to do something for the school, for the science building in particular, and to some day, when his means
allowed, do things such as purchase a new telescope for the facility.
His means are now sufficient that he has been able to fulfill the desire of his younger self to give back to Wayland
financially. In addition to giving out of gratitude for what Wayland gave him, he also gives to the school mindful of the
current generation of Wayland students. “I think of the students that are there now. This is their opportunity for growth. I
want them to have the same opportunities I had. The future of the world is dependent on future generations coming out
with the same ideals that Wayland provided me and my classmates.”
He supports the school because he considers it to be “part of my family. The faculty, the institution, the friends that I
made. You can’t get that experience in another institution.”
Dean of Students Paul Keller teaching economics Math Teacher Rebekah Moe
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