Exercise science major juggles work, school, family and a desire to help others.
Thomas Riddle is a busy man. Between working three jobs, he makes time to be a loving cousin, brother and son, create music, earn his graduate degree from the University of Mississippi and, most importantly, make people smile.
“I think I could make the person who never smiles laugh,” Riddle said in a recent interview outside the J.D. Williams Library, where he has worked for six years during his undergraduate and graduate studies.
When asked how he makes time for it all, Riddle grins.
“It’s all about balance and support,” he said. “You have to balance your time and you have to make time for the people that you love, because they’re your support. They help you get through.”
“What doesn’t stand out about Tom? He has never said an unkind thing about anyone. He does everything every day with a smile on his face, and he has a charm that is infectious.”
— Sarah Katherine Glass, program coordinator for the library’s IDEA Lab
Riddle introduces himself as “Thomas Riddle of Tupelo, Mississippi, home of Rae Sremmurd and Elvis Presley,” in that order. Boasting a bright smile and a Naruto T-shirt, the graduate student in exercise science said his dream of becoming a physical therapist is rooted in his desire to help others.
“I want to help people every day,” Riddle said. “They’re trusting you with their body, their health – that’s important. You have to build a connection with them and get to know who they are so they know they can trust you. That’s what I want.”
In pursuit of that dream, Riddle has worked between two and four jobs every semester since he arrived at the university in 2017. He works at Kroger, teaches group fitness at Goose Creek Club and at the Department of Campus Recreation, is a personal trainer for several clients during the week and, since his first days on campus, has worked at the J.D. Williams Library.
“What doesn’t stand out about Tom?” said Sarah Katherine Glass, program coordinator for the library’s IDEA Lab, where Riddle works. “He has never said an unkind thing about anyone. He does everything every day with a smile on his face, and he has a charm that is infectious.”
At the IDEA Lab, Riddle takes time to get to know students who come in asking for help, Glass said. Riddle briefly met a group of students last year who were using IDEA Lab facilities to create background noises for their upcoming indie video game, Sentinel, and, unsurprisingly, Riddle took interest.
“He ended up writing the music for their game,” Glass said. “That’s just how he is. He has a genuine interest in learning about people, and if you ask anyone here if they know Tom, they light up. He just genuinely cares.”
Stan Whitehorn, head of library facilities, hired Riddle in 2017, and said he was immediately taken with Riddle’s can-do attitude and ever-present smile.
“How often do you meet someone and feel like you’ve known them forever?” Whitehorn said. “That’s what meeting Tom is like.”
Between Riddle’s work ethic and positivity, Whitehorn said the next student hired at the library will have some very large shoes to fill.
“He’s going to succeed wherever he goes. All I have to say is, ‘Watch out, Arizona.’”
— Stan Whitehorn, head of library facilities
“When he walks into a room, it lights up – that’s what we’re going to lose,” Whitehorn said. “He understands what we’re trying to do here and he’s happy to help. He isn’t just biding his time here, he’s a part of this team. An integral part.”
In his courses, Riddle said his professors have prepared him to thrive in the world of physical therapy.
“I have the best professors on campus,” Riddle said. “They really want you to know the material and they push hard, but that’s because they want you to succeed.”
All that hard work is paying off for Riddle, who received four acceptances to doctoral programs in physical therapy across the country. After much prayer and thought, Riddle said he’s made his decision and will attend Creighton University in Phoenix, Arizona.
It will be the first time he’s lived outside of Mississippi, but he isn’t worried.
“You just have to be genuine when you say who you are,” he said. “Character is who you are when no one is watching. I try to treat everyone – no matter who they are – like friends.”
When asked where the drive to earn his education comes from, Riddle credits his mother, Annette Riddle, who received her doctoral degree in counseling and is the lead school counselor at Tupelo Middle School.
“I’m just trying to be the next Dr. Riddle,” he said with a characteristic grin. “I’m a mama’s boy.”
Annette Riddle is nervous for her youngest child to move out of state and away from the family he’s so devoted to, but more than anything she’s proud of him. Annette said she tried to instill the importance of higher learning into both her children. Having grown up as one of 14 siblings in poverty, Annette said she knows the power of faith and learning.
“I believe if you need to change the trajectory in your life, education and faith are two things that can get you there,” she said. “Thomas has a good heart. He has a desire to achieve, if given the opportunity, and to be an overall Christian.”
Riddle, who had his first job at 15 in a barber shop and hasn’t been without a job since, is an avid planner, active in the church and dedicated to making time for friends and family, she said.
“It makes me extremely proud of him that he has some of the same core beliefs as I do,” she said. “It takes hard work, but that drive to follow through and do the work is so pertinent to achieving your goals.”
Regardless of what’s coming with his next big move, Riddle said he’s ready and, as always, smiling.
“He’s going to succeed wherever he goes,” Whitehorn said. “All I have to say is, ‘Watch out, Arizona.'”
By: Clara Turnage, University Marketing & Communications
