Q&A with this month’s #PlattProfile, Nicholas Dell’Omo.
Dell’Omo tells us about his mission trip to Guatemala.
(This interview has been edited for clarity and length.)
Q: How old are you?
A: I am 21.
Q: What school are you currently attending?
A: University of South Carolina Honors College.
Q: When do you graduate?
A: May of 2025.
Q: What is your major?
A: I am a biological science major.
Q: How did you decide on that major?
A: I’m planning on going to med school and it was kind of the major that encompassed all my prerequisites for the MCAT and med school. Also, I had a lot of AP credits coming into college so I had a lot of those intro bio classes covered and it allowed me to pursue two minors as well, which can really expand my education in that area.
Q: What are your two minors?
A: Medical humanities and business administration.
Q: And what made you decide on those two minors?
A: Well, medical humanities looks at medicine from a different perspective. It’s not just the organic chemistries and the strict bio classes. For example, I’ve taken a medical simulation class that allowed us to work with high-fidelity mannequins, a birthing simulator, and CPR labs, that was all really cool. There’s a Spanish for healthcare professionals, which is something I’m passionate about. Being able to learn Spanish in terms of healthcare and how I can help translate my Spanish to that is very valuable. The business administration minor is pertinent because eventually want to open up my own Medical Clinic. I’m looking to go into orthopedic surgery and I would love to open up a Sports Medicine facility one day and I think the business administration minor is going to help me nail down the steps for that.
Q: Do you participate in activities in school? Clubs?
A: I’m the president of a medical fraternity, Phi Delta Epsilon that’s been where the majority of my extracurricular time has gone. I’m also the captain of our Relay for Life team through our fraternity and also a trip leader for a medical mission trip to Guatemala.
Q: Tell me a little more about your mission trip
A: Last year we went and it was my first time leaving the country and it was a great experience. We basically set up a free medical clinic in a rural Guatemalan town. We set up the clinic in an old school and we had the whole gym and we had a table set up. It would be a student (one of us from the trip), a patient, and a translator. Some of these people have never seen a doctor in their entire lives, it was their first form of I guess remote Healthcare. I was able to go most of the day without a translator because I could do the English to Spanish and most of them there could speak Spanish.
We would listen to why they’re coming in, why they are feeling sick, or if they have something going on with them. I found three heart arrhythmias in girls under 10 years old. Like I said, they have never seen a doctor in their life. Most are born in their houses and never step foot in a doctor’s office or hospital. I found HPV in a 14-year-old girl so we had to send her over to the main hospital which was three hours away because without getting treated that can lead to pretty bad things.
This year we doubled our team size. I’m going to be a trip leader this year. I will be running a team down there and I am very excited. We have a group total of 50 students going. My team is composed of 15 of those students through my fraternity.
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: I love playing golf, obviously. I try to go out to the range at least once or twice a week and I’ve been trying to play a little bit more but I am really busy. Also, I love listening to music, and going to concerts, and I love going to the beach.
Q: What golf club do you caddie for?
A: Metedeconk National Golf Club.
Q: How long have you been caddying?
A: I will be going into my 5th season.
Q: How did you start caddying?
A: I joined the golf team freshman year of high school. I never had touched a golf club before. I had my late grandfather’s set and I figured I had a few friends joining the team. That kind of got me into the sport and then I loved it. I then started looking at summer jobs on a golf course because at a time, I worked at Chick-fil-A and it was great, I loved working at Chick-fil-A, but I didn’t like being stuck in a restaurant. So yeah, I started looking for jobs outdoors and I found Hollywood Golf Club and that was my introduction to caddying. They had a great caddie training program there and then the next year I moved over. Metedeconk was much closer to me and I was able to get there more often and be more of use to the caddie master.
Q: What is your favorite thing about caddying?
A: I would say just meeting people from all different walks of life. I mean, I’ve caddied for doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, judges, just about anyone you could think of even professional sports players. If you would have told me that when I first started that I’d be caddying for NFL players, I’d be like you’re joking, that’s not going to happen. And also going into the medical field and getting to meet a lot of these doctors has been awesome. I’ve met a couple of mentors that way and I’ve been able to shadow a couple of doctors through that and it’s just nice to have a community all in one place.
Q: How did you hear about J. Wood Platt?
A: My caddie master at the time was the one who said I should apply. I received the scholarship sophomore year of college.
Q: What are your long-term goals? Think 5 to 10 years
A: My goal is to become an orthopedic surgeon and open up a sports complex with everything an athlete needs from sporting facilities to medical care, all in one place. I also want to travel the world by being a part of Doctors Without Borders, a nonprofit that provides aid around the world in response to wars, diseases, and disasters.
Q: What is something that happened to you while caddying that you will never forget?
A: One of the most memorable things that happened to me while caddying was watching both of my players quite nearly go back-to-back for hole-in-ones. It happened on hole 25 at Metedeconk National. The member was up first, his ball hit the front right of the green and rolled all the way to and into the back left pin. After a little celebration, his guest got up and his ball did the same thing, however, stopping about 2 inches short of the hole.
Q: What advice would you give your younger self as a caddie or a new caddie just starting?
A: Besides applying to J. Wood Platt sooner, I would tell them that, like anything in life, caddying is a learning experience. You are not going to be perfect on your first loops and that is ok, no one is expecting you to be. Keep showing up and one day things will start to fit together like puzzle pieces and before you know it, you will be training the new guys and will be requested by members every weekend. Caddying will open doors for you that are unparalleled to other jobs such as spending 4-5 hours with NFL/NBA/MLB/PGA players, CEOs, Doctors, and Lawyers. Once you learn to hold conversations with these types of people, suddenly that school presentation doesn’t sound so bad.
Q: How has J. Wood Platt changed your life?
A: J. Wood Platt has freed me up enough financially to pursue things that otherwise would be unattainable. This includes going to Guatemala on a medical mission trip for the second year in a row, participating in blood pressure analysis research in the Athletic Training department at USC, volunteering weekly at Prisma Health Baptist Hospital on the surgical floor, traveling to London to study infectious diseases, and so much more. Without the help of J. Wood Platt, I can’t imagine I would be able to take part in such opportunities, and for that, I am forever grateful.
J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust
The J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust was created in 1958 and is the charitable arm of GAP (Golf Association of Philadelphia). The J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust’s mission is to financially aid and empower qualified caddies and those working in golf operations in the pursuit of higher education. Along with aiding caddies financially, J. Wood Platt’s EMPOWER program strengthens scholarship investment dollars by providing caddies with exceptional benefits and leadership training through access to the wide network of J. Wood Platt donors and alumni. To date, more than 3,700 young men and women have received $25 million in aid from the Trust.
