Always have courage.
That title of Cole Brock’s commencement speech to Purdue University’s Class of December 2019 applies to his three and a half years at the West Lafayette campus.
Growing up in a small town and graduating from Brownstown Central High School in 2016 with 140 students he knew by name, Brock said he didn’t fully understand how big of a change he would undergo at Purdue.
“I can remember the day I moved into McCutcheon Hall Room 663 like it was yesterday, and when my family left, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go through with this,” he said during the Dec. 15 commencement at the Elliott Hall of Music. “I certainly never would have considered the possibility of standing on this stage in front of all of you today and in fact would have likely turned down the opportunity at the time.”
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At the time, his sole focus was to finish his degree and be done.
“As students, we often put an unnecessary amount of stress on ourselves and forget to slow down, to realize we are capable and enjoy the opportunities and challenges that we are blessed with at this university,” he said. “Of everything that I have learned at Purdue — mind you I have also learned skills that I will make a career out of — the most important lesson was learning that I could accomplish anything through my faith and a little hard work.”
At Purdue, he worked hard on his studies, became involved in two honor societies and made friends he will have for the rest of his life. He also said he grew as a person and was able to experience a variety of amazing opportunities Purdue students are offered.
That includes an international senior capstone project that allowed him to take a study abroad in Peru.
“I knew from Day 1 that I would be challenged here, stretched to where I thought my limits were and sometimes even ready to quit, but I made my mind up from the beginning to give my best effort on every single thing I did,” Brock said.
“That project proved to be just as challenging as I expected and then some,” he said. “To add to the complexity, I took on the role of team leader for the entire project, decided to try to graduate a semester early and added a minor.”
For a couple of weeks in May, he traveled to Peru for a final demonstration with Purdue’s partner university in Lima and also got to visit Cusco and Machu Picchu, one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
“The knowledge and skills that I gained through that project will benefit me for the rest of my life,” Brock said. “They are the reason I am confident enough to stand in front of you all today. My story is just one of many examples of why the degrees that we are receiving are touted as some of the most prestigious in the world. For that, I thank this university and am ever grateful.”
Brock then thanked the parents, families, friends and faculty for their endless love and support even during the days he and his peers wanted to quit.
“At Purdue, we are frequently held to a higher standard and pushed to our limit, but there is a reason for that. It shows us that our limits are just a figment of our imagination,” he said. “I can confidently say that what we are accomplishing today means that we are all truly capable of achieving anything we set our minds to. We are thankful for all of you sticking with us while we learned this valuable lesson.”
Being a big fan of cowboys and old western movies, Brock shared a quote from the late John Wayne that is his all-time favorite.
“I think it applies perfectly today: ‘Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway,'” he said.
“Nobody knows what any of us will face or take on from here,” he said to the graduates. “What I do know is that there will be times when we are scared and think we are at our limit. In those times, it’s simple: Just remember you are a Boilermaker, proceed with courage and take yourself past where you think your limit is just one more time.”
Purdue President Mitch Daniels chose Brock to be the student responder for the afternoon commencement, while Samantha Klemme, a student in the College of Agriculture from Otterbein, was the student responder in the morning session.
The winter graduating class included 1,622 undergraduate degree recipients, 683 master’s degrees, 375 doctoral degrees and one graduate each for the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and Doctor of Nurse Practice degree.
In mid-September, Brock said his adviser informed him via email that he was her nominee to speak at commencement. Advisers choose a nominee, deans narrow down the field and Daniels makes the final decision.
Later on, after finishing a job interview, Brock checked his email and saw a message from the university’s assistant dean letting him know he was chosen to be a student responder.
“I was just so grateful,” he said. “I would have never thought they’d want an undergraduate student from Jackson County, Indiana, so when they did, I was like, ‘Man, this is just awesome.’ I’ve put in a lot of hard work, and I could already see that it was paying off. When I found out that I got the opportunity to do that, I was just overjoyed.”
Brock received a Bachelor of Science in electrical and computer engineering technology and minor in supply chain management.
He said he has always been interested in engineering, specifically automotive. His father, Clint Brock, owns Seymour Tire and Service, and he has worked there part time.
Clint went to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, but Cole chose Purdue after being impressed by a couple of visits.
“I liked the idea of going to a Big Ten school. That was something that I thought was really cool,” Cole said. “And when we went on the tours, there were just so many different ways to get involved there and different things to do — ballgames to clubs and everything else. Then they really stressed when we were visiting how good Purdue’s job placement was.”
Cole was able to finish in three and a half years thanks to the 60-plus hours of college credit he earned in high school. He didn’t have to take as many general classes and could focus on his core classes.
He also was part of The Paint Crew student section at basketball games and two honor societies, but he said his senior capstone project his junior year was the biggest highlight.
For the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, students had to do a design project. He chose a study abroad program where he was remotely partnered with students at UTEC in Lima, Peru.
“Rather than having a typical class where you have set guidelines and a set solution to find whatever it is you’re doing with that, you’re either working for the university or for an actual company to solve a problem that they have and they fund it,” Cole said. “It does a really good job actually teaching you how projects work in the real world and with an actual job.”
For a couple of weeks in May, he went to Peru to finish out the project.
Everything he accomplished, including making the dean’s list every semester, was the reason he was chosen to speak at commencement.
He hopes he inspires others to work hard to pursue their dreams.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from. The person determines everything to me,” he said. “That’s whether you’re going into a job interview or going to school at Purdue or whatever it may be. Just because you come from a small town or a big town or whatever, it shouldn’t matter. The person determines their outcome.”
While there were a lot of stressful times and he wasn’t sure he would make it through, Cole said he prayed a lot and kept his faith.
“That was, I think at least from my opinion, the most important thing for making it through, and I’ve been very blessed as a result,” he said.
In January, he starts full time as a production engineer at Aisin Drivetrain Inc. in Crothersville, where he was an intern the past two summers. The company offers tuition reimbursement in case he decides to pursue more education.
“I really haven’t looked into it a whole lot yet, so I’ll just kind of see how things go, and if there’s ever a position where I thought maybe going back to school would help me, I certainly would be open to it,” he said.
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Name: Cole Brock
Age: 22
Hometown: Brownstown
Education: Brownstown Central High School (2016); Purdue University (Bachelor of Science in electrical and computer engineering technology and minor in supply chain management, 2019)
Family: Parents, Clint and Stephanie Brock; sister, Carley Brock
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