June 05, 2024
Computer scientist Cole Patno ’24 “never let anyone slip through the cracks”
By Michael Hagan ’15, ’19G
W. Cole Patno ’24, a computer science major who minored in mathematics, is process-minded and solution-oriented. Whether working with software, conducting music, writing policies, or leading people, he labors toward efficiency, clarity, harmony, and impact.
“What I love about math is sitting down and working from confusion toward clarity. When you reach answers, it’s like the clouds parting to reveal the sun,” Patno said. “When you get it, when it all comes together, when it works beautifully — that’s the best feeling.”
It’s applicable to his work conducting the Providence College Pep Band, authoring policy and recommendations in Student Congress, and mentoring younger students.
For as long as he can remember, Patno, from South Burlington, Vermont, has looked for ways to facilitate moments where “it all comes together.” He has worked with summer camps in the Green Mountain State where youth enjoy outdoor experiences in a spirit of friendship and growth. This summer, following his graduation with honors in May 2024, he will return to Camp Abnaki in North Hero to manage the camp office.
Camp Abnaki promises on its website to be “the best place in the world to be yourself,” somewhere where “you’ll always find other campers or staff that you can identify with.” In his best experiences at PC, Patno felt this same authenticity and identification with peers. As president of Pep Band and chair of the public affairs and academics committees of Student Congress, he helped facilitate such experiences for others.
Like many college students, Patno struggled with feelings of not measuring up. He wrestled with the phenomenon termed “imposter syndrome,” especially as he stepped into leadership roles. Encouragement and mentoring from peers, faculty, and staff as well as clinical support through the Personal Counseling Center helped him manage these worries.
“I hope my experiences show others that that struggle isn’t failure,” Patno said, adding that it takes strength to seek help.
The helpful guidance he received and the mentorship he offered younger students was consistent with his approaches to his studies. In computer code, equations, and life, Patno found that breaking complicated problems into their parts and staying true to principles — be they the mathematical order of operations or deeply held personal values — was a good way to navigate the challenges of college and young adulthood.
Core classes like Development of Western Civilization and philosophy challenged him. He discovered that he could succeed by using the approach he brought to computer science — the methodical simplification of ideas and arguments with attention to the complex contexts in which they developed. It was not easy, but today, Patno can read Plato and write Python. He has read theories of human cognition and studied the science of computation. He can radically improve data management for Camp Abnaki while articulating compellingly the human value of the experience it facilitates.
At men’s basketball games at the Amica Mutual Pavilion, it was hard not to notice Patno conducting Pep Band yards from the court. Conducting any musical ensemble requires emphatic gestures. Conducting the Pep Band’s signature arena rock’n’roll rendition of When the Saints Go Marching In requires theatrical ones. Thousands of Friars fans saw Patno make a full-body, heart-pumping workout of each clock stoppage. Friends recognized him and other Pep Band and spirit squad members courtside during broadcasts of BIG EAST Tournament games at Madison Square Garden and the 2022 NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen game in Chicago.
“I was nervous becoming a conductor my sophomore year. Half the band was older than me, and there are high expectations of the band and its conductors. I’m glad the worries didn’t stop me. I am so thankful for the experience,” Patno said. “Who’d have thought I first joined Pep Band because I needed that extra half-credit in my schedule?”
In high school, Patno was “never a band kid.” His first instrument was his voice, and he performed through his school and in prestigious regional choirs. Under pandemic restrictions in his first year at PC, he embraced the at-first uncomfortable experience of singing in virtual ensembles. As restrictions relaxed, he became involved in a cappella and musical theatre. He played a lead role in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Film’s 2023 production of Roger and Hammerstein’s Carousel.
As the curtain closed on his senior year, Patno enjoyed the traditions that accompany graduation. The nine friends with whom he lived across the street from campus savored their final weeks together and particularly enjoyed the class outing to Fenway Park in Boston. They had much to celebrate, but they laughed thinking about how, when they were new students, they looked at graduating seniors and thought they had life completely figured out.
“Now that we’re here, we know much better,” Patno said.
Patno is proud of his achievements at Providence College. Whether graduating with honors, updating campus safety protocol to include active shooter response training at new student orientation, or pouring himself into communities like Pep Band and Student Congress, he has the deep relationships, tangible impact, and bachelor of science degree to show for four years of study and campus life.
But for Patno, his highest honor as a now-graduate came from younger students in his academic and extracurricular orbits, who told him, “You’re busy managing so much. You do so many different things. But you still check in on us. You never let anyone slip through the cracks.”
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