By Kiara Cain
21 years ago, Theresa Platt became a teacher at Captain Shreve High School. But, before she began teaching, Platt was a chemist for 15 years. She was encouraged to take science seriously from a young age by her father. Platt originally wanted to be a math teacher, but a coincidental overlap of her classes and a chemistry lab led her to change her mind and become a chemistry major. From there, her love of science grew. I spoke with Platt about her time as a chemist and as a teacher. This conversation has been edited and condensed.
Have you always wanted to be a chemist?
No, when I first started at Centenary I wanted to be a math teacher. The reason I’m not a math teacher is because one of the classes I signed up for was scheduled in the afternoon, the same time I had a chemistry lab. I discussed it with the dean, and he told me chemistry wasn’t that important. From that time on, I was a chemistry major.
Can you describe what kind of work you did?
My first job was a lab technician at a wastewater treatment plant, then I went to work for a power plant in Mansfield. I took care of water, air, and coal quality. Then I went to work at the ammunition plant where I started off in the environmental department and ended up as the explosive labs supervisor. My boss had even asked how I would feel about working with things that killed people. I told him that would bother me a great deal and I got promoted to the explosive department.
Was there a time in your career where you wanted to quit?
Well, I gave up my career as a chemist because after I was married I became pregnant, and I was working with dangerous chemicals that I didn’t want the baby to be exposed to. So, for a couple of years I was a stay at home mom. In order to socialize my child I put him in daycare. I needed something to do and I remembered I enjoyed teaching at BPCC so I applied to several high schools. The only one that was willing to take a chance with someone who had been a chemist for 15 years to teach chemistry was Captain Shreve.
Do you like teaching more than being a chemist?
I’ve been a teacher longer, and some days yes but other days not so much. Being a chemist, I worked a set time from 8:00am to 4:30pm. Being a teacher you work almost constantly. I spend most of my weekends planning for the next week. It’s tough.
Was transitioning from a chemist to a teacher hard? What were your struggles?
Yes, classroom management was a struggle. There’s a balance between being friendly with your students and being firm and consistent and it’s tough. Managing a classroom is definitely tougher than when I managed as a chemist. I had one lab but now I have 150 plus students and everyone has a different personality.
Do you have any favorite stories from when you were a chemist?
There was a time where I got stuck in a cooling tower at the power plant. The ladder that I climbed up fell down and back then there were no cell phones so I had to wait until somebody noticed me waving from the man hole saying “Hey, pick up my ladder!”