Collegiate Times

The Class of 2008 unveiled their class ring design during the 2008 Ring Premiere at Burruss Hall Auditorium Tuesday, marking the culmination of the selection process.
?I?m going to purchase a ring because it will remind me of my college experience. Getting a college ring symbolizes all the hard work and dedication that goes into doing well in college and it?s a fun and meaningful tradition,? said junior animal/poultry sciences and biology major Brandy Eden.

Class rings have been a tradition at Virginia Tech since 1911, when the first ring was created especially for the class. Beginning in 1914, a student committee was selected during sophomore year to design the ring as a meaningful keepsake of the year.

?A Virginia Tech class ring defines a student?s experience here at Tech along with all the deep traditions of this university. There are some time-honored elements on the ring that date back to the first ring with Class of 1911 ? the screaming eagle, the crossed sabers and shield. One side is the University side, which has the most traditional symbols and elements. The class side has images that symbolize that particular class?s experience while they were at Tech. It is the side that also has the class year,? said Laura Wedin, the Travel/Student Programs Coordinator for Alumni Associations.

The Ring Design Committee consists of eight members: Ring Design Chair, Ring Dance chair, two members at large and the four class officers. Though the student committee members change every year, Wedin, along with fellow staff member Jen MacDonald, has served as the staff advisor from the Alumni Association since 1993.

?Texas A&M has a very strong ring program (their ring, however, is the same design each year save for the class inscription), as does Notre Dame. But Tech sells rings to about half of their class, whereas most schools do not even come close to 10 percent of their respective classes,? said Wedin.

?I think that I will get a class ring for fun just because when I?m old it?ll remind me of Tech, even though I?m not really sure what it symbolizes to me... (it) probably symbolizes the four years I get to spend here and all the fun and work that goes into that,? said junior biology major Rachel Marksteiner.

The 2008 ring sales dates are October 4-6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Nov. 4 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. All sales will be conducted in the Williamsburg Room of Squires Student Center.
Juniors will receive their rings during Ring Delivery Week, March 20-24 in conjunction with the Ring Dance, which takes place March 23-24.
Rings will be the least expensive while members of the Class of 2008 are still students. After December, when the ring company?s contract with the state ends, the retail price of gold will drive the cost.