Northwestern Oklahoma State University alumnus Rex Trent, who is currently superintendent of Binger-Oney Public Schools, will deliver the commencement address at his alma mater during the University’s spring commencement ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 6, at Ranger Field.
The Yukon resident graduated from Northwestern with a bachelor’s degree (1981) and earned a master’s degree in education at Northwestern (1984). As a student at Northwestern Trent played Ranger football (1977-1981).
Trent said he was fortunate to receive a football scholarship from Northwestern in 1977.
“If not for the scholarship, I would have never attended college,” Trent said. “So Northwestern provided me with an opportunity to receive an education and pursue my dreams of becoming a teacher and a coach.
“Coming from a small town (Cordell) in southwest Oklahoma, Alva seemed an eternity’s drive. I was scared to death for the first couple of weeks. I was in a place where I knew nobody. After the first couple weeks though, that’s when Alva and Northwestern felt like home.”
Trent said he learned that there were many others in the same situation and they were making the proper adjustments.
“My roommate had driven from southern Florida with his dad, so I could only imagine what was going through his mind,” Trent said.
Trent said some of his most fond memories were living in the dorm, getting to eat all he wanted for breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria, the small class sizes and the professor’s commitment for students to learn.
“It was great on weekends also because most kids back then stuck around,” Trent said. “We had great Friday and Saturday night get-togethers. I made so many lifelong friends from attending Northwestern.”
After getting his bachelor’s degree, Trent served as a coach and Physical Education instructor with Seminole Public Schools in Texas (1981-82). A year later, he came back to Northwestern to work on his master’s degree. During that time, he coached with the Ranger football team, worked as a graduate assistant and was the head resident supervisor of Ament Hall.
With his master’s degree, Trent went on to teach history and coach football at Alva Public School (1984-85). Leaving Alva, Trent coached and/or taught at the following schools, Weatherford Public Schools, Union Public Schools (Tulsa), Sequoyah-Claremore Public Schools, University of Tulsa and Claremore Public Schools.
In 2009-2011, Trent served as the middle school principal and athletic director with Perry Public Schools and moved to Dickson Public Schools as their high school principal/assistant superintendent (2011-2016). Graham-Dustin Schools (Weleetka) had Trent as superintendent for one year (2016-2017) and Binger-Oney Schools has had Trent as their superintendent since 2017.
Looking back Trent says there is one important person who made an impact on his time at Northwestern.
“The late Dr. ‘Bud’ (Norman) Matthews (full-time faculty member, 1958-1987) was my adviser throughout my entire collegiate journey,” Trent said. “He made sure I was on track to graduate on time. As a college athlete it was easy to get wrapped up in football, but this man kept me focused.
“He wanted to know my goals and then took it upon himself to be a motivator for me to reach them. He was just a wholesome man to be around overall. He was a faculty member who cared about each student he advised and you felt special for the time he poured into you.”
Trent currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.
A livestream link for the commencement exercises can be found at www.YouTube.com/NWOSURangers.
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CONTACT FOR RELEASE
Erin Davis, University Relations Specialist
eedavis@nwosu.edu; 580-327-8480