May 10, 2021, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Start at GRCC and go anywhere. Every former student has a story to tell about how GRCC gave them the education and opportunity to be successful.
Tom Rademacher’s feelings about Grand Rapids Junior College run deep: “That beautiful little college on Bostwick Avenue -- along with its swim coach at the time, Dave Clark -- helped me set a compass for life.”
That compass and his gift for words have launched him in many directions, where he’s met people from all walks of life with interesting stories: people who use metal detectors to find lost rings, an archer who uses his teeth instead of his hands to work a bow, a couple who created a Wiffle Ball stadium in their backyard.
For more than 30 years, he shared those stories with readers of The Grand Rapids Press. His talent earned him writing awards from the Michigan Press Association and the Associated Press, and he earned first-place honors an unprecedented three times from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
The author of four books, he retired from The Press in 2009 and now writes for Sabo PR and on behalf of a variety of clients as close as right around the corner and as far away as Africa. He and his wife Hollie now reside in the sleepy lakeshore haven of Stony Lake, in Michigan’s Oceana County.
Tom received his associate degree from GRJC in 1974, where he was awarded the Merle Storr Award, given annually to the top student-athlete. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in special education and psychology from Grand Valley State University. He served as an adjunct instructor of English at GRCC for more than 20 years.
“I made lifelong friends, got schooled by incredible professors like Gertrude Croom, and came to understand that a community college will give you back as much as you put into it,” he said upon receiving GRCC’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2013.
“My only regret is that I couldn’t attend there all four years.”
Let GRCC help you start your story. The first chapter starts at grcc.edu/apply.