Never Alone: The Journey of Jake Thibeault ’26 to the Commencement Stage

Jake Thibeault ’26 will never forget his first day at Babson College.

Having moved into his room, on a beautiful warm day in late summer 2022, he rolled onto campus in his wheelchair. A new stage of his life was beginning, but he wasn’t sure what it would bring.

Only the year before, he was injured during a hockey game, crashing headfirst into the boards and sustaining two broken vertebrae that left him paralyzed from the waist down. And now here he was at Babson, a place full of promise, a place where he had dreamed of being, but yet, a lingering sense of uncertainty hung over him.

On a day filled with excitement and hope for the days to come, he couldn’t help but look around at his fellow classmates in the Class of 2026 and notice how different he was. “I was the only guy in a wheelchair. I felt alone,” he said. “But I was so wrong. I was never alone.”

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COMMENCEMENT 2026: Read more about Babson College’s Commencement ceremonies. 

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Four years later, Thibeault’s undergraduate journey has come to a close. This past weekend, he served as the student speaker at Commencement. The long, loud, and rolling ovation he received proved just how wrong his younger self was on that move-in day. Thibeault was, indeed, never alone. All of Babson was behind him.

“I wouldn’t be on that stage if not for an immense group of people,” he said. “Babson has been some of the best memories and some of the best people. Every day, I am blessed with my best of friends, and going to class, and being the best version of what I want to be.”

As much as the people of Babson have meant to Thibeault, though, those same people have also taken inspiration from him.

Finding His Place

Just after 8 a.m. on Commencement day, Thibeault gathered outside the Len Green Recreation and Athletics Complex (LGRAC) with the graduating members of Babson men’s ice hockey team, friends with whom he has grown close over the past four years. Dressed in their caps and gowns, they huddled together around the beaver statue as Jamie Rice ’90, P’28 ’29, Babson’s Boxer-Rice Head Men’s Ice Hockey Coach, took their photo.

Commencement day brought its usual heady mix of pomp and circumstance, nostalgia and pride. “It’s crazy to think it’s already here,” Thibeault said. “It’s bittersweet. This place has meant the world to me.”

Commencement day also brought many emotions for Thibeault’s family—dad Mike, mom Tracy, and brother Drew—who were hanging out at LGRAC before the graduation ceremony. Thibeault’s injury had been such a dark moment for the family. “We didn’t know what life was going to look like,” Mike said. “When he got injured, we didn’t think traditional college was in the cards.”

The family kept moving forward, however, and watched as Thibeault not only attended college but also flourished there. “It has been one of the best chapters in his life,” Mike said.

To watch Thibeault at Babson over the years was to see someone who had found his place. An energy, of handshakes and laughs and stories shared, often surrounded him on campus. People wanted to say hi to him, share a moment with him. Rice witnessed this firsthand recently when he and Thibeault ate lunch at Trim Dining Hall. “Everyone in Trim, everyone, wants to say hello to Jake,” Rice said. “He has time for everyone.”

“He has taught us that dedication and determination remain one of our greatest personal resources, and when combined with a genuinely magnetic and positive outlook, nothing is impossible.”
Jamie Rice ’90, P’28 ’29, the Boxer-Rice Head Men’s Ice Hockey Coach at Babson

Rice and Thibeault have a strong bond. “Personally, I will miss seeing Jake almost every day,” Rice said, “but I am so grateful for the four years we have had together.” The pair first met less than a week before Thibeault’s injury, as the then-high school student visited campus as a prospective hockey recruit, and the coach later reached out to him at the hospital, in those challenging days after the injury.

Thibeault stayed upbeat and resolute in those first days, telling his doctor, “I am ready to fight.” But he remembers when he was transferred to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, almost a week after the injury. That night in his room, alone for the first time in days, he looked at the Boston skyline, at the Mystic River as it flows into the harbor. He had a lot on his mind.

“I was lost in thought,” Thibeault said. His future felt cloudy and uncertain. Would he get married one day? Would he have kids? Where was his life headed? The hard truth was that he didn’t know. “That Friday night is still one of the worst nights of my life,” he said. “That night was really tough.”

One thing he knew for sure, however, was that he wanted to go to college. He applied to Babson, in large part because of his relationship with Rice. It was the only school he applied to. Thibeault remembers the jubilant moment when he heard he was accepted. Suddenly, his future came more into focus. He knew his next step: Babson.

“We really celebrated,” he said. “It was amazing. It was a real sense of relief. I knew I was going to college. To have that in order allowed me to focus on rehab.”

No Quit, Chip Away

Thibeault lived a busy life at Babson. Like any student, he had classes to attend and homework to do. He also spent as much time as he could with the hockey team, attending practices and games. “Even though I didn’t lace up the skates for four years, I feel like I played college hockey,” Thibeault said.

Then there’s the sheer number of hours he spends sweating every week. On Mondays, he’s in a rowing program at a Spaulding outpatient facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then from Tuesday to Friday, he spends several hours a day working out and undergoing electric stimulation at Journey Forward, an organization in Canton, Massachusetts, committed to helping those with spinal cord injuries.

This work is repetitive and relentless. Continuing to exercise and maintain muscle mass is critical to gaining back movement. Progress is slow, but progress happens nonetheless. When Thibeault was first injured in 2021, he couldn’t even sit up. His ultimate goal is to walk again. “I call it the battlefield of paralysis,” Thibeault said. “I really grind. I try to chip away at paralysis.”

Thibeault embraces the grind, not just in rehabilitation, but in life. “No Quit, Chip Away” is a mindset he lives by. He does the work and trusts good things will follow. “I love grinding,” he said. “I love working. I love being on the move. I love being on the go and being busy.”

Thibeault first adopted this keep-pushing mindset when he worked as a farmhand in his teens. On the farm, the hay needed to be baled, and the work wasn’t finished until that was done. “We had some really long days trying to get it done,” he said. “The farm was an environment where you put your head down. It gave me the mental stamina now with what I’m dealing with.”

By staying busy, Thibeault doesn’t have time for bad days. Sure, every day brings disappointments or rough moments, but no day is completely bad if there’s time spent hanging out with friends, or learning in the classroom, or strengthening your body, or just waking up to face a new morning.

Cam Joslin ’26 has witnessed Thibeault’s mindset up close. Along with Charlie Andriole ’26, Ryan Murphy ’26, and Tommy Rooney ’26, he was one of Thibeault’s senior-year roommates in Pietz Hall. “Living with Jake has given me the opportunity to have a better perspective on life,” Joslin said. “He has this positive aura to him that I have never seen with anyone before in my life.”

The Meaning of Community

Positivity alone, however, is not enough. To succeed, to be his best self, Thibeault has long known that he needs help. “Great things are hard to accomplish alone,” he said.

Since his injury, many communities have offered Thibeault their support: his hometown, Fitchburg, Massachusetts; his old school, Milton Academy; and the New England hockey network, from the Babson Beavers to the Boston Bruins. “All of those communities have rallied,” he said.

Hollywood even came calling. After the accident, Thibeault received a call, notifying him that someone from Dorchester (a Boston neighborhood) wanted to speak with him. Turns out it was Boston-bred actor Mark Wahlberg.

Since then, the pair talk frequently, and over spring break, Wahlberg invited Thibeault and his father out to Las Vegas, where they played golf and participated in one of Wahlberg’s 4 a.m. workouts. “He’s a great friend, and he’s been great to me,” Thibeault said.

At Babson, Thibeault is grateful for the campus-wide support he has received from the first day he stepped foot at the College. “Everyone was all hands on deck,” he said. “They were ready to make my experience as normal as they could.”

Thibeault calls out a lengthy list of Babson people who have had his back. They include not only senior staff at Babson—Rice, Mary Powell, Babson’s director of accessibility services, and Andy Moutinho, senior director of operations in Facilities Management and Planning—but also Jackie Quadra of Trim Dining Hall (who always took time to bring him his plate of food) and his Pietz Hall roommates. “They made sure every single door was open for me, literally and figuratively,” Thibeault said.

Thibeault is grateful for these relationships and so many others with faculty, staff, and students at Babson, but truth be told, these interactions are not simply one-way streets. As much as people have helped Thibeault, he has helped them.

An army at Babson and beyond may have stood behind Thibeault and lifted him up, but he has done the same to them, inspiring them with his determination. “He has taught us that dedication and determination remain one of our greatest personal resources,” Rice said, “and when combined with a genuinely magnetic and positive outlook, nothing is impossible.”

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‘MORE THAN HOCKEY’: Read more about Jake Thibeault ’26 in Babson Magazine.

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Living with Thibeault has left a mark on his roommates. “Jake is extremely humble and thankful, but we couldn’t be more grateful for the impact he’s had on all of our lives,” Andriole said. “Jake’s positive energy and incredible work ethic have been so contagious. I truly believe that being roommates with Jake has made me a better human being.”

Joslin feels the same. “His work ethic is unmatched and has motivated me to work harder and have the same positive outlook on life,” he said. “He has made me be a better person and has helped me grow into the type of person I am today.”

The caring and big-hearted community looking out for Thibeault, and also feeling inspired by him, demonstrates what happens when people bring out the best in each other. “His commitment is inspiring, and the way he moves through Babson encourages all of us to slow down, pay attention, and do better for one another,” Powell said. “His presence has made our community more thoughtful, more connected, and, honestly, more human.”

Hope in Hard Times

Looking to the future, Thibeault is interested in working in real estate development while continuing to serve as a board member with the Thomas E. Smith Foundation, a nonprofit that supports people living with spinal cord injuries and paralysis.

He also wants to serve as an inspirational speaker. He already has shared his personal story with a number of schools and organizations. “I hope to be a beacon of hope for others who may be going through a hard time,” he said.

Addressing his classmates at Commencement was a privilege that Thibeault savored. “I’m very honored to be able to do this,” he said. During his speech, he spoke of resilience, of facing uncertainty, and of his belief that there are no bad days, that everyone should focus on the good moments to be found in their lives.

He stood while he delivered his speech. With the help of his roommates, Andriole and Murphy, he rose from his wheelchair and walked to the podium on his own using a walker, his path made possible by the hours upon countless hours spent in rehab and by the community standing behind him.