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Kathy Platt
ST. CROIX — Nineteen-year-old Kathy Platt, a lacrosse player and aspiring veterinarian at La Roche University in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania received a special recognition as a 2020-2021 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Scholar-Athlete, in which Ms. Platt was one of eight women chosen for the accolade. Platt is a St. Croix native who plans to return to the Virgin Islands as a veterinarian after a residency abroad.
Ms. Platt had to maintain a 3.4 or higher grade point average for the Fall and Spring semesters during the 2020-2021 academic year. She also had to be in good standing on her team, both requirements to be a scholar-athlete.
She is a biology major who aspires to become a veterinarian. Her hope is to attend graduate school in the south, so she can find relief from the cold winters of the mainland.
Now going into her junior year of college, Plat is juggling school, sports, extra-curriculars and a campus job. She continues to keep her GPA up while a part of two sports teams— lacrosse and cross country— in addition to employment as a resident assistant. Due to her achievements, she received several scholarships and is on the dean’s list. Staying organized by utilizing her daily planner ensures that she turns in assignments on time and make her practices, Ms. Platt said.
Kathy Platt and lacrosse team members
Success does not come without its challenges. Considering that she has so many activities pulling her in different directions, she finds balance by taking breaks or finding compromises, she said. “For lacrosse, I may not play lacrosse every day. I’ll play it every other day, and then I’ll run cross country on those in between days,” Ms. Platt relayed.
She also shared that she takes mental health days to relax and do things for herself for happiness besides school. Her encouragement for students entering college for the 2021-2022 academic year is to schedule time for themselves in addition to scheduling their responsibilities.
“I think that it's important to stay focused and have a goal," she said. Goals are definitely what inspire you to push further. You want to achieve something so you’re going to do all that you can to achieve that thing,” Ms. Platt shared as further advice to upcoming freshmen.
After she attends graduate school and obtains her doctorate, Ms. Platt plans to return to the territory after traveling to Africa for internships during her residency. Her dream graduate school is Tuskegee University in Alabama. Upon return, she hopes to be employed by Sugar Mill Veterinary Center, where she has been working since her junior year in high school.
