Seizing Opportunity: Smith Student Leads While Learning

Darrell Lipscomb, MS Accounting ’25, starts his day at 5 a.m. and when he arrives at Van Munching Hall, he goes straight to Rudy’s Cafe for a coffee. “I spend a lot of time here at Smith because I can focus here, this is where the creative juices get flowing.” He said just when he thinks about wrapping up his day, if he encounters other students still working and studying, he decides there’s still more work that he can do, too. Lipscomb has always had a strong work ethic and took charge of his direction at an early age.

“In high school, I was going down the wrong path, so I actually asked my parents to put me into a military school.” From there, the Inglewood, California native enlisted in the Army, where he served as the chaplain's assistant for over five years. 

Lipscomb values serving others. Before he even began his coursework at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, he was looking for ways to give back to the Smith community. He quickly became the vice president of finance with the Master’s in Accounting Association (MAA). He also signed up to be a student ambassador for the Smith Master’s Student Association (SMSA). Today, he is president of the SMSA, which serves about 600 graduate students, while continuing as a student ambassador and a track representative for the MS in Accounting program. He uses this opportunity to build community and help fellow students. 

“We have students that come up to me and say, ‘I’m really struggling in these classes,’” Lipscomb said. “In those moments, I reach out to the broader Smith student community to connect them with peers who can potentially help out. I’m able to put those things in place. Even though we have great support programs at the business school, we also have a lot of students who want to help.” 

In the military, Lipscomb was recognized for his volunteerism as the 2018 Volunteer of the Year at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. “In the span of six or seven months, I volunteered over 1000 hours.” It’s an award he lists among his proudest accomplishments. Also, that same year, he was recognized as the junior enlisted soldier of the year in the Military District of Washington. 

His business aspirations began with Warren Buffett’s famous quote, “Accounting is the language of business”. This is what inspired Lipscomb to study accounting and he chose Smith for his degree because of its reputation for accounting job placement. He already has an internship at KPMG lined up for the summer and is focused on earning his CPA to help establish himself as a strategic leader in finance. 

“I love Smith and it has truly created an opportunity that I feel is perfect for me.” The Smith Terp said the faculty and staff have allowed him to “dream bigger”.