1,200 Luddy Students Graduate After Transformative Journeys

Riley Ramirez walked into Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall feeling one emotion above all others: amazement at how far she'd come in four years.

The informatics major graduates this month from Indiana University's Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering with a job offer from Accenture, a pitch competition win, and memories of projects that let her creativity soar. She's one of 1,200 students celebrated at Thursday's recognition ceremony, each with their own transformation story.

Ramirez says the turning point came sophomore year when she realized the possibilities in front of her. "Early on, I realized how much I could do with my degree here, and how many opportunities I had," she says.

She grabbed them all. Ramirez added three minors, studied abroad, and connected with mentors like Travis Brown, the school's senior executive assistant dean of innovation. Brown met her through the Shoemaker Scholars program and watched her master the art of using campus resources to build her future.

The approach paid off at this spring's Shoemaker Scholars Pitch-athon, where 123 students competed for $3,500 in prizes. Ramirez and two best friends from different schools teamed up, developed a strategy case, and won $2,100 as Team Power in Three.

"It was exciting to work on it with them and ultimately win it with them," she says. The collaboration skills she built opened doors beyond campus. She discovered Accenture at a Luddy career fair, impressed them during a summer internship, and earned a full-time offer to start in Boston this summer.

Why This Inspires

Ramirez credits Luddy's culture of support for her success. She helped lead Women in Computing workshops, prepped for interviews in campus facilities, and found her people studying in Luddy Hall's ICE CUBES spaces. "What I love about Luddy is that I feel so comfortable here," she says. "Everyone is super friendly when I walk through the halls."

Fellow graduate Addison Owens, a computer science major chosen as student speaker, echoes that sentiment. "Luddy fosters teamwork and collaboration as opposed to competition," she says. "We're all helping each other succeed."

Owens mentored first-year students while pursuing her own complex programming projects, including building an interpreter that automatically converted code between three different languages. She combined her computer science major with a technical theatre minor, proving the school's flexibility supports diverse passions.

Both graduates say the experience exceeded their hopes because Luddy delivered more than classes. It provided community, confidence, and a launching pad for dreams they're now ready to chase.