Latest Crop of West Point Graduates Includes First Observant Sikh Cadet

“Diversity must never be an afterthought,” Katie Felder, a West Point spokeswoman, said in a statement. “It must be a thoughtful and purposeful approach to ensure that we get the right talent and the right mix of talent that will represent the nation we are sworn to defend.”

On Saturday, about 1,100 cadets are expected to receive their diplomas. Lieutenant Narang is one of nearly 230 women in the 2020 graduating class, which is 12 percent African-American, 9 percent Asian, 9 percent Hispanic and less than 1 percent Native American.

Despite being a minority within a minority on campus, Lieutenant Narang said she did not feel isolated as a student there. In some ways, she said, it was easier to fit in as a female Sikh cadet than if she had been a man.

Two male practicing Sikh cadets are behind Lieutenant Narang, and they received religious accommodations from the academy to grow facial hair and wear turbans. The Army standard for women’s hair says that a bun must be no larger than 3.5 inches in diameter. For Lieutenant Narang, whose hair hangs to her knees, it took some practice to pin a bun tight enough to meet the requirement, but she did not need a religious accommodation.

Breaking an ethnic barrier on campus showed itself in unexpected moments, she said.

“On the second day of basic training, the chaplain approached me as he was going around looking at religious preferences and said, ‘You have “unidentified” for a religious preference,’” Lieutenant Narang said. “He asked me, ‘Do you not have a religious affiliation?’ I said, ‘That’s because Sikhism wasn’t on the list for me to include it.’”

Like the rest of her graduating class, Lieutenant Narang was required to return to campus two weeks ahead of the ceremony to quarantine before Mr. Trump’s speech. When asked about her thoughts on the commencement speaker, she said that she would “prefer to not talk about that.”

After West Point, Lieutenant Narang plans to attend a basic officer leadership course. In early January, she is expected to assume her first post at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.