{"id":53203,"date":"2025-05-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=53203"},"modified":"2025-05-19T08:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T13:35:07","slug":"barringtons-tarleton-state-commencement-address-to-highlight-perseverance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/barringtons-tarleton-state-commencement-address-to-highlight-perseverance\/","title":{"rendered":"Barrington\u2019s Tarleton State Commencement Address To Highlight Perseverance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 A serious car accident in 2021 led Cole Barrington to make a life-changing decision and come to Tarleton State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Commencement
Cole Barrington<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He graduates Saturday morning as part of the commencement exercises with a double major in finance and economics. Additionally, he\u2019ll deliver the student address to his fellow graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His speech will be centered around his anything-but-ordinary journey to a bachelor\u2019s degree and the importance of finding meaning and purpose in life, even in the face of adversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll talk about my job before the accident and where I believed my life would go, and how life had other plans for me,\u201d said Barrington, a graduate of Mansfield High School. \u201cI\u2019ll talk about the necessity of having resilience, adaptability and perseverance to push through challenges. That determination got us here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was a student at a North Texas trade school in February 2021, when the accident changed everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was working and majoring in industrial systems when I crashed my truck,\u201d he said. \u201cThe accident put me in a wheelchair and changed all my plans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His decision to come to Stephenville was based on the need to be close to his support system, his parents and grandparents, who lived in nearby Granbury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just months after the wreck, he enrolled at Tarleton State, initially to pursue a degree in education. He eventually chose a different path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to do something where I could meet with people and still use numbers and build things with my mind instead of my hands,\u201d said Barrington. \u201cI\u2019d done welding and worked remodeling when I was in high school, and I loved that, but I\u2019m passionate about eventually working in finance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When deciding on a minor, he discovered he\u2019d taken several classes without taking the prerequisite course beforehand. Instead of losing those credits, he added a second major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a 3.8 GPA and two degrees, he was admitted to the master\u2019s in finance program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he\u2019ll move in the fall to begin working toward a career in corporate or investment banking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said his time at Tarleton State was fulfilling, but he\u2019s ready for the new challenge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve met some life-long buddies here,\u201d he said, \u201cBut I\u2019m excited about moving to the city.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 A serious car accident in 2021 led Cole Barrington to make a life-changing decision and come to Tarleton State University. He graduates Saturday morning as part of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":53204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":423,"footnotes":""},"categories":[423,425],"tags":[442,447],"class_list":["post-53203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-research","category-campus-community","tag-community-events","tag-dr-sam-pack-college-of-business"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"priddle","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/priddle-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2025\/05\/Barrington-300x200.jpeg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Community Events<\/a>","Dr. Sam Pack College of Business<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Community Events<\/span>","Dr. Sam Pack College of Business<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 11 months ago","modified":"Updated 11 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 14, 2025","modified":"Updated on May 19, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 14, 2025 8:00 am","modified":"Updated on May 19, 2025 8:35 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Cole Barrington","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53203"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53310,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53203\/revisions\/53310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}