Anywhere else, students enter gym class merely fulfilling their necessary credit as they suffer through the lethargic conditioning and come to despise physical activity in their own lives. Thankfully at East, the culture of “Gym” and “Team Games” class is quite the opposite, thanks to all of the fun that students have thanks to Mr. Tomkins. Students in every grade eagerly enter every class to see what game awaits them next. A gym class with Tomkins is an experience, and the values of teamwork and inclusiveness are promoted in the most enjoyable of ways. Unfortunately for incoming freshmen, this is Mr. Tomkins last year at East Grand Rapids and as his last year comes to an end, students and faculty alike realize that both PE and school life in general at East Grand Rapids will never be the same.

Mr Tompkins arrival at East Grand Rapids was far from planned. “Before working here I was in college basketball coaching. I coached at the University of Michigan, Capital University and Hardin Simmons University” Tompkins said, “After that I was over at Catholic Central for four years, then I came here. I was only planning on staying here for two years, but it ended up being 25.” Mr. Tomkins, like so many, fell in love with everything about East Grand Rapids, making his retirement for him, and us, very bittersweet. “After I’m done here I’m excited to spend more time on my business and my small farm with my family, but with that being said, It’s just been a great place to work.” Tompkins said, “The students are absolutely awesome, and the administration has always been extremely supportive. I’ve been so fortunate to be put in a position here to help young people develop, help myself develop as a person as well.”

In his time here, Tompkins has made a massive impact on countless lives by providing a fun and stress free environment for kids to forget about all of trials of their day and just engage in some friendly competition for an hour. Along with his cheery and encouraging attitude, Mr Tomkins will also be remembered for the sport that he has developed into something that is synonymous with East gym class: obstacle baseball. This unconventional and at times nonsensical game is without question the pinnacle of his classes. This evolutionary game has added a myriad of quirky rules that make it exponentially more enjoyable than your typical softball game. “When I came here, the previous PE teacher introduced me to it.” he said, “There were about five or six rules at that time, and over the course of the last 20 years, something would happen during the game and me or a student would say “Hey! That should be a new rule” and we just kept coming up with new rules after playing game after game.” Obstacle baseball is now cherished by everyone who comes through PE and will live on long after the days of Mr Tompkins tenure here.

While we will surely miss his classic “Three!” screech when a ball hits the ceiling, or trotting around the bases after hearing him scream “Ya!” proclaiming a homerun, Mr Tompkins will ultimately be missed the most in his attitude that he brings to every school day. His kindness and passion for his job and the students he teaches embodies everything that makes East Grand Rapids so great, his impact will never be forgotten and can never be replaced, I wish him all the best in his retirement, he’s earned it after all of the great work he’s done for this school and community.