Diptanshu Rao said his experience at Indiana University started like that of many other students: independent for the first time and filled with doubt about his ability to succeed. But he wants current and future graduates to understand that they are capable of more than they can imagine.

Diptanshu Rao. Photo by Ethan Gill, Indiana University. Rao will share that message when he takes the podium as the student speaker at Indiana University Bloomington’s winter commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Dec. 17 in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

A 22-year-old international student from Mumbai, India, and an honors student majoring in finance in the Kelley School of Business, Rao will receive one of the record 2,244 December degrees to be awarded. He’ll receive a Bachelor of Science degree in business with a minor in Japanese this semester, and he’s on track to earn a Master of Science in financial mathematics degree in the spring. After that, he’s set to start a job as an investment banking analyst for Bank of America.

“We are privileged to hear Diptanshu share his insights at this year’s winter commencement ceremony,” IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Rahul Shrivastav said. “While he has excelled in academics and contributed exceptionally engaged student leadership to IU, he maintains an outlook of balanced humility and confidence.

“It is fitting that a student who has spent his time on campus working to encourage a sense of inclusion and belonging among his peers will deliver a message of assurance and growth upon his graduation.”

Rao said his speech is also a reminder to graduates who are concerned about life after college to remember that they were in a similar situation when they started college.

“They didn’t plan for how college was going to shape out,” he said. “But we all rallied, we all worked really hard. It’s very easy to forget how far you’ve come when you are looking at the mountain you have to climb in front of you. My speech is to make people stop and think about how much they’ve grown.”

A by-the-numbers graphic about the graduates receiving degrees at the 2022 IU Bloomington winter commencement ceremony. Graphic by Emily Sutorius. Rao said he arrived at IU shy and introverted, filled with uncertainty and unfamiliar with American lifestyle and culture. Now, though, he considers his time at IU as the most formative years of his life.

“I genuinely call Bloomington home, and I would not have anything I cherish right now if not for my time at IU: my best friends, my roommates, the people I call family,” Rao said.

In addition, he said he’s grown in his confidence and gained knowledge and leadership skills through his involvement with campus organizations. He was one of 12 students on the IU Cabinet of Student Leaders, which advises the president, deans, trustees and vice provost on student affairs and initiatives. He’s the president of the Indiana Memorial Union Board and the vice president of membership of IU’s chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi, the professional business fraternity.

Serving on the IU Cabinet of Student Leaders gave him the opportunity to hear from university leaders and other organizations, tell them what students want and need, and exercise the voice of the student body, Rao said.

And with the Union Board earlier this year, he and the other leaders took part in a project to place red mezuzahs on doors in the Indiana Memorial Union. IU Hillel launched the project and partnered with the Union Board and IMU as a symbol of solidarity with the Jewish community in response to recent antisemitism. Each mezuzah displayed the message “I stand with my Jewish friends.”

“It was very much a way to declare and state what our position on the topic was, and also a symbol to people of Jewish heritage and culture to remind them that the Union is still a place they can feel safe and at home at,” Rao said.

The organizational experiences pushed him out of his comfort zone, introduced him to people of diverse backgrounds and taught him important soft skills, such as how to work with people, how to talk to people and how to delegate, Rao said.

“The person today that this university has empowered me to grow into is one who is filled with confidence in his capabilities, with trust in and compassion for those around him, and a strong drive to make a positive and impactful difference in his IU community,” he wrote as part of his application to be the student commencement speaker. “IU has given me so much more than just a college degree.”