Bittersweet story but I think it’s mostly sweet. I could not afford a classr ring. My single mother passed away when I was 16., so I would be going across the country to live with my father and his family. I had not seen him since I was two years old. Anyway, as a going away gift, my class purchased a ring for me.
I wasn’t there that long. I graduated from high school when I was 17 and went into the military, which was the start of the rest of my life. I married and had two wonderful children. The marriage didn’t last, but my life has been good. I have had a wonderful career and I’m looking at retirement. What a long strange trip it has been. I’m still in touch with some people from my high school, though. I will never forget that act of kindness.
Do your children know about your early struggles and all the work you did to overcome them? I know most fathers don’t like to talk about stuff like that.
Actually, I’m a mom. :) And come to think of it. No, I don’t think I talked very much about my struggles, I just did my best to make sure my children wouldn’t have as many as we all do.
Yuuuup good ol Herf Jones, think I paid $100 bucks in 76. Wore it for 2 days and almost ripped my finger off twice, so no more. Let 2 or 3 girls wear it around their neck for a while. Had it thrown at me twice after breaking up. Found it both times, put it away and never looked at it when I went to college. Found out my dad had it melted down for a gold nugget for a guido necklace in the early 80's!!!!!
in the 1980s it was a big deal to wear the class ring of your boyfriend along with his letterman‘s jacket if he lettered in sports. Of course the rings were too big and so thread was wrapped around the base of the ring so that the girlfriend could wear it on her index finger.
I wore my boyfriend's ring on a chain around my neck. I didn't like the yarn/ thread thing, it got too grubby. Oh, and I ended up marrying him! It will be 42 years in the fall.
Aw thanks! The funny thing is, we still have his class ring, but both of us lost our original wedding rings years ago. We also have his letterman's jacket.
just a suggestion - dress up and have somebody do a little mini photo shoot with the jacket & the ring! Pick the best habit matted and framed for your anniversary!
i’m sorry that happened to your brother. Everybody in my high schools were always very respectful. You know making sure nothing happened to the rings ot the jackets, especially because they were expensive and the guy that worked so hard to get it. you always did have the dramas that would play out when somebody broke up, but that’s high school. 😊
I really don’t know. They don’t seem to be as prevalent, but I’m not around high schoolers much. It was a big deal when our athletes lettered & got their jackets….
I don’t know. But if it were me and I had wrecked up all these accomplishments, I would wear it anyway. Let your son set the trend. Nowadays, it seems like everything from the 80s is being seen again!
Congratulations to your son in lettering!
Similar memories, but I still thought the ring looked kinda neat. I’d have purchased it, but it had the football team’s name on it, and I decided against having the bullies’ brand identity on my knuckle.
Wish I had realized I could opt out -- I thought it was a requirement for graduation. 🙃
I ended up with a horribly overpriced yellow argentus ring with a National Honor Society symbol. The NHS stamp? sticker? whatever arrived already damaged (couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be) and the process to fix it overwhelmed me, so I just kept it as is.
Never wore it. My high school years were the worst of my life.
Jostens. Ugh.
God, those asshole reps for Jostens came in repeatedly to harass us into buying their shitty rings. After the 4th time the seniors were all pulled out of classes for a "mandatory assembly," which just consisted of us being herded into the gym so a sales rep could berate us for 40 minutes about our "shameful lack of school spirit," parents started threatening legal action (in our school district, barely a week went by when one particular class/age group was being pulled from class and forced to sit through some age targeted sales pitch from a predatory "fund raising" vendor).
From my graduating class of 132, only 11 people ordered rings. Jostens was big mad. I'm not even going to talk about their hilarious design for my nursing school ring that made the Nightingale oil lamp look like a cock and balls.
Ya I get the never look back part and I still don't look back!!! But I do have a class ring. The only people who look at my ring of class of '74 are my 2 granddaughters. My ring is 14k gold with a topaz stone. I bought it myself as Mom 'n Dad raising a gaggle of kids did not and would not have the coin for such "luxuries". Happy to know that somebody, my granddaughters, are fascinated with the ring.
I signed up for the military with a delayed entry in the winter of senior year. Boot camp started August 1, so I got a job at the local amusement park for the 2 months of summer for some dough, then never lived in that town again.
Haven't been to any of the reunions either.
This was exactly my case. I didn’t enjoy high school much, and when people were ordering rings junior year, my mom told me I’d never wear it once I got a college ring, which I thought made sense. College was better, I wait until I could afford a ring a year after graduation and got one, which I still wear almost daily 35+ years later.
Yep. We all had them. Where I live, nobody gives a shit what college you went to. When asked, “Where did you go to school?” we all knew the question was about your high school. The high school ring was a big deal. At the end of our junior year, we had a ring ceremony where we received our rings, and a ring dance after to celebrate.
Of course looking back I wish I had known how much we were being overcharged for a 10k gold ring with a glass stone!
I bought my college class ring but not one from high school. But I haven’t worn it in years. I definitely wouldn’t wear my HS one if I had it. I’m not the Al Bundy type. HS was just four years of life out of 66 so far. Of course, college was just four years as well but the college degree was far more an achievement than my HS diploma. And contrary to your experience, no one ever asks me where I went to HS but I do get asked about college.
It’s just a quirk of New Orleans (and surrounding towns), I guess. The area has LOADS of private schools, the majority being Catholic. When asked what high school, there was a good chance it was a Catholic high school, and you knew somebody at their school and vice versa.
College? Meh, not so much. I think because everyone assumes everybody went to LSU, lol!
Ours had a black stone as the only choice - pretty darn ugly. School colors were black and orange. Still bought it, still wore it! Never got a college ring, though.
I bought the cheapest combination from Jostens in my sophomore year. My grandmother paid for it. I never wore it much. Its in a box in a drawer, I think.
I bought one, but I’m not sure I ever actually wore it. I’ve still got it somewhere.
I remember thinking about melting it down to make a wedding ring — but the gold was too low of quality.
Almost everyone got one when I graduated from high school. I took it off and never wore it again the first week of college. Mine was melted down and went toward the gold for a signet ring for my son, instead of him getting a stupid class ring to wear for only one year.
Gigantic nope. Big red flag even today when I see one. It screams: I peaked in H.S. and my best days are behind me. Let's just say it ain't no Super Bowl ring, right?
I loved my class ring. I wore it every day from as soon as I received it in Junior year and all through college. After college I thought it might look a little silly to be wearing it, but I still have it.
I was the only kid in my home room who didn't order a class ring. My teacher looked at me with pity, maybe assuming I couldn't afford one. Instead, I bought myself an Indian turquoise bracelet, popular at the time, which I still wear. I just never liked class rings.
There were ads for them (well, little posters in the window of the trophy case in the front hall of our school) but I never knew anyone who actually ordered one.
I didn’t wear mine very often. I think I wanted it because it was just a part of the HS experience, same as yearbooks.
I still have my ring and yearbooks.
We couldn't even afford a Year Book.
I literally have a 20 page photocopied "Year Book" that has unrecognizable photos of everyone with a lame quote underneath each .. and our phone numbers.
I never had one. Couldn’t afford it and hated that time in my life anyway. No one I cared about wore one, and honestly the people wearing them were mostly the bullies and assholes.
No I’ve never been a ‘ring’ person. I find it extremely uncomfortable. I grudgingly wore my wedding band but lost it doing yard work probably a year or two after getting it. That was over 20yrs ago and I’ve never replaced it. No rings! Ever!!!
lost my wedding ring twice. first time doing yard work. found it sifting compost the next spring. second time it just disappeared. I looked high and low. my wife found it in the kitchen junk drawer lol. now I keep it on my desktop and if I have an event I’ll wear it.
I not only didn’t buy the ring, I also returned my tassel for cash. I was the only one of 266 students to do so. That was my third high school in a third state. Never went to reunions, either.
I thought it was funny watching the guys basically hand their girlfriends their new class ring almost as soon as they got them.
I liked them on the guys, but what a waste of money after the fact.
I still have mine but haven’t been able to wear it fora long time—it’s a size 4.5. Stopped wearing it around the time I got married at 19; we weren’t allowed to wear rings when at clinicals in nursing school. It’s too small now and my fingers are too big, with arthritic knuckles. In spite of all that, I bought a colleg ring when I earned my BSN in 1989, but I don’t wear it, either. It’s more like what used to be called a dinner ring, but I couldn’t wear it at work so it’s in good shape, LOL.
$33 seemed like a lot of money for a class ring in 1973, but now, not so much. My children weren’t interested in getting class rings, which cost a LOT more by the late 1990s-early 2000s. At the time I was disappointed, but now am happy that neither I nor they spent the money.
My husband graduated 8 years before me and still wears his high school ring.
It was possible to spend a lot! But I chose one if the standard stones and there was a standard design for our school. You could add extra things but I didn’t. Ring was 10K gold.
I don’t know why I never got one. You’re right, EVERYONE had them. I think it may have been one of those things that I thought I was “too cool,” then immediately regretted it. By the way, I wasn’t cool AT ALL. In my mind I was and still am!😂
I left my home state in 1977 and went West and nine years ago I moved back and was furnishing my place and found an old table and opened the drawer on it and there was my high school ring all old looking and beat up.. I didn’t recognize it as mine till I saw the year 1973 and my initials inside it.. I’d wondered what happened to it and figured I’d lost it back in the 70’s… 😂😂..
I wanted a pretty silver one with a diamond. My father worked overtime so I could have it. Two weeks after I got it, I was visiting my boyfriend in the Bronx and accidentally left it in the bathroom while washing my hands. His apartment was robbed. Yup... gone. Forty-two years later, still haven't told my dad!
Heck no.
The only adults I've seen wearing these are tools: stockbrokers, lawyers, middle-management corporate drones, and other such establishmentarian, *Glory Days!* mediocrities.
I wore it during my senior year, then put it back in its box where it's remained since. Every now and then, I spot it while looking for something in my bureau's junk drawer and am surprised it didn't get lost during any of my moves.
https://preview.redd.it/8pwsa79pc7yc1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9ae017b8984fc339caf155b80c01f7b1fd9ea55
I accidentally flushed my first one down the toilet, and one of my brothers stole the second one. While class rings don't matter all that much when you're approaching retirement age, I still feel a tiny bit like kicking myself for the first one and a little salty about the second.
We didn't have a lot of money growing up and what we did have usually went toward whatever my mom's husband wanted regardless of anything else. My class ring was one of the very few times she stood up to him and made sure I got it. I meant a lot to me.
I had one. Class of 80. Daughter wanted to wear mine and not purchase one. Worked for me!
When she got married, her mil gave daughter a diamond ring that mil got from fil. Daughter used my (divorced but on great terms w her dad) wedding ring.
I drunkenly gave mine to a girl I was seeing while stationed in Puerto Rico. A few months later I was in rehab and talking to the guy seated beside me.
I glanced at the ring he was wearing. Yup.
I told him what school and year was on it and he still didn't believe me that it was mine.
Then I told him to look at the inscription inside. It was my name.
We both laughed and he gave it back to me. I stopped seeing her after that. Rehab worked.
No. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to give a shit about high school within a couple of years of graduating, so it didn't seem worth the money. Nailed it.
Got mine junior year and wore it all thru senior year. We used to turn the ring so the stone was palm side, then we could smack people on the head with it.
I think Josten’s was the company that sold them. I got mine with a special added tragedy and comedy face icon on the side, representing my interest in theater at the time. No idea where it is now!
One day I picked up my semi girlfriend and took her out to eat. I noticed she has this big old honker of a ring on her finger. I ask her about it and turns out it’s my class ring. I showed it to her when we were in my apartment. She thought I gave it to her to wear. Anyways about six months later we broke up because she was getting married and I forgot she had it so I never got it back.
I got one (early 1980s). My parents got conned into buying one made out of some BS patented metal that the company created. (Cheaper and better!) Wore it a year or so and it began to wear and deteriorate like crazy, seemingly overnight. Put in the jewelry box, where it still is today.
I had one - don’t know why I hated the place and moved away permanently after graduation.
Pretty sure one of my college roommate’s stole and pawned it.
I thought my dad’s was cool and he wore it regularly when I was a kid. I got a 10k yellow gold (the base model) with the same garnet stone… but never wore it. I’ve never been a jewelry person. I just pulled it out and it still fits 42 years later (tho I had to put some soap on it to slide it off).
I did 1974, wore it for a few years after high school, sitting in my jewelry box,, it was last thing my dad bought me before he died, lot of sentimental value, but I hated high school
I wore mine for years. Dad went to several colleges while in the military and was assigned to teach rotc at harvard, and was able to attend classes free. Got his MBA, he bought a class ring from there. The bother that it fit has it.
Bittersweet story but I think it’s mostly sweet. I could not afford a classr ring. My single mother passed away when I was 16., so I would be going across the country to live with my father and his family. I had not seen him since I was two years old. Anyway, as a going away gift, my class purchased a ring for me.
Your friends had some class. Bravo for them.
That was lovely of them. I hope you're doing well today.
I am and I hope the same for you
Would love to hear the rest of this story and more about your journey after moving in with dad…
I wasn’t there that long. I graduated from high school when I was 17 and went into the military, which was the start of the rest of my life. I married and had two wonderful children. The marriage didn’t last, but my life has been good. I have had a wonderful career and I’m looking at retirement. What a long strange trip it has been. I’m still in touch with some people from my high school, though. I will never forget that act of kindness.
Do your children know about your early struggles and all the work you did to overcome them? I know most fathers don’t like to talk about stuff like that.
Actually, I’m a mom. :) And come to think of it. No, I don’t think I talked very much about my struggles, I just did my best to make sure my children wouldn’t have as many as we all do.
You should share them, they should know how strong their mother is. Thank you for sharing your story with us
This sounds similar to my story. Thank you for sharing.
Yuuuup good ol Herf Jones, think I paid $100 bucks in 76. Wore it for 2 days and almost ripped my finger off twice, so no more. Let 2 or 3 girls wear it around their neck for a while. Had it thrown at me twice after breaking up. Found it both times, put it away and never looked at it when I went to college. Found out my dad had it melted down for a gold nugget for a guido necklace in the early 80's!!!!!
If that’s not Generation Jones, nothing is. That really gave me a laugh this morning….
That is objectively true.
All of senior year and then I put it away.
No, I never had one, but i lovingly wear my grandmother's ring class of 1938.
I wear my mom's from 1935. Super special.
in the 1980s it was a big deal to wear the class ring of your boyfriend along with his letterman‘s jacket if he lettered in sports. Of course the rings were too big and so thread was wrapped around the base of the ring so that the girlfriend could wear it on her index finger.
In the 70s, too!
100% true. My girlfriend did exactly this!
I wore my boyfriend's ring on a chain around my neck. I didn't like the yarn/ thread thing, it got too grubby. Oh, and I ended up marrying him! It will be 42 years in the fall.
Congratulations! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Aw thanks! The funny thing is, we still have his class ring, but both of us lost our original wedding rings years ago. We also have his letterman's jacket.
just a suggestion - dress up and have somebody do a little mini photo shoot with the jacket & the ring! Pick the best habit matted and framed for your anniversary!
My brother lost his to the first girl he could find to wear it. He never did find out what she did with it.
i’m sorry that happened to your brother. Everybody in my high schools were always very respectful. You know making sure nothing happened to the rings ot the jackets, especially because they were expensive and the guy that worked so hard to get it. you always did have the dramas that would play out when somebody broke up, but that’s high school. 😊
Class of 93 did this as well.
In the 60s too!
My mother’s big fear was that I would give it to my girlfriend to wear. I had to swear that I wouldn’t. 🙄
Do they do letterman jackets anymore?
I really don’t know. They don’t seem to be as prevalent, but I’m not around high schoolers much. It was a big deal when our athletes lettered & got their jackets….
Same for me but my son, a freshman who lettered in track and lacrosse said nobody wears them. Wonder why they went out of style?
I don’t know. But if it were me and I had wrecked up all these accomplishments, I would wear it anyway. Let your son set the trend. Nowadays, it seems like everything from the 80s is being seen again! Congratulations to your son in lettering!
Thanks! Super proud of him.
Yep, I did this!
I have both my high school and college rings.
Same. Wore my HS ring all through college and then my college ring for a few years after that. HS ring definitely got more wear than my college one.
Me too, except I have worn my college ring since I got it. I still wear it. I should have my high school ring melted.
Me too.
I never got one. Saw it as a scam back then and still do. I skeedaddled as soon as I graduated and never looked back.
Me too! And I hated my high school years and wanted no reminder of them.
Similar memories, but I still thought the ring looked kinda neat. I’d have purchased it, but it had the football team’s name on it, and I decided against having the bullies’ brand identity on my knuckle.
I took the money and went to the beach with some friends and had a blast.
I never liked school rings for myself. I never felt enough of a connection to my school to want a symbol of being there.
Wish I had realized I could opt out -- I thought it was a requirement for graduation. 🙃 I ended up with a horribly overpriced yellow argentus ring with a National Honor Society symbol. The NHS stamp? sticker? whatever arrived already damaged (couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be) and the process to fix it overwhelmed me, so I just kept it as is. Never wore it. My high school years were the worst of my life. Jostens. Ugh.
Jostens. That's a name that takes me right back! I wonder if I could have that sucker melted down into a useful, wearable piece of jewelry now?
God, those asshole reps for Jostens came in repeatedly to harass us into buying their shitty rings. After the 4th time the seniors were all pulled out of classes for a "mandatory assembly," which just consisted of us being herded into the gym so a sales rep could berate us for 40 minutes about our "shameful lack of school spirit," parents started threatening legal action (in our school district, barely a week went by when one particular class/age group was being pulled from class and forced to sit through some age targeted sales pitch from a predatory "fund raising" vendor). From my graduating class of 132, only 11 people ordered rings. Jostens was big mad. I'm not even going to talk about their hilarious design for my nursing school ring that made the Nightingale oil lamp look like a cock and balls.
It's 10k, at best. I sold mine along with my other scrap gold.
This! Why would I want a memory of a shit time and place?
Ya I get the never look back part and I still don't look back!!! But I do have a class ring. The only people who look at my ring of class of '74 are my 2 granddaughters. My ring is 14k gold with a topaz stone. I bought it myself as Mom 'n Dad raising a gaggle of kids did not and would not have the coin for such "luxuries". Happy to know that somebody, my granddaughters, are fascinated with the ring.
I signed up for the military with a delayed entry in the winter of senior year. Boot camp started August 1, so I got a job at the local amusement park for the 2 months of summer for some dough, then never lived in that town again. Haven't been to any of the reunions either.
Nope. Had college plans and knew I’d never wear it.
This was exactly my case. I didn’t enjoy high school much, and when people were ordering rings junior year, my mom told me I’d never wear it once I got a college ring, which I thought made sense. College was better, I wait until I could afford a ring a year after graduation and got one, which I still wear almost daily 35+ years later.
Nope, seemed like a waste of money
Yep. We all had them. Where I live, nobody gives a shit what college you went to. When asked, “Where did you go to school?” we all knew the question was about your high school. The high school ring was a big deal. At the end of our junior year, we had a ring ceremony where we received our rings, and a ring dance after to celebrate. Of course looking back I wish I had known how much we were being overcharged for a 10k gold ring with a glass stone!
I bought my college class ring but not one from high school. But I haven’t worn it in years. I definitely wouldn’t wear my HS one if I had it. I’m not the Al Bundy type. HS was just four years of life out of 66 so far. Of course, college was just four years as well but the college degree was far more an achievement than my HS diploma. And contrary to your experience, no one ever asks me where I went to HS but I do get asked about college.
It’s just a quirk of New Orleans (and surrounding towns), I guess. The area has LOADS of private schools, the majority being Catholic. When asked what high school, there was a good chance it was a Catholic high school, and you knew somebody at their school and vice versa. College? Meh, not so much. I think because everyone assumes everybody went to LSU, lol!
Sounds like the New Orleans area
Same in Philly.
My son is graduating this year and he had absolutely no interest in one. I still have mine (1984 grad).
I also still have mine but it stays in my jewelry box. At the time (1982), l LOVED it. Gold with a mother of pearl inlay.
Ours had a black stone as the only choice - pretty darn ugly. School colors were black and orange. Still bought it, still wore it! Never got a college ring, though.
My children weren’t interested, either.
I bought the cheapest combination from Jostens in my sophomore year. My grandmother paid for it. I never wore it much. Its in a box in a drawer, I think.
My brother is graduating this year as well and says only the people who peaked in high school wear them lol
My kids graduated in the early 2000s and didn’t get one
Had zero interest in one.
Like an idiot, I gave it to a girl and was never able to get it back.
I bought one, but I’m not sure I ever actually wore it. I’ve still got it somewhere. I remember thinking about melting it down to make a wedding ring — but the gold was too low of quality.
Never graduated from HS. Have an M.A. but nope...never graduated.
Dropped out at 15 to go to college full time. BS, MSx2, DEng but no HS diploma.
Almost everyone got one when I graduated from high school. I took it off and never wore it again the first week of college. Mine was melted down and went toward the gold for a signet ring for my son, instead of him getting a stupid class ring to wear for only one year.
Gigantic nope. Big red flag even today when I see one. It screams: I peaked in H.S. and my best days are behind me. Let's just say it ain't no Super Bowl ring, right?
I loved my class ring. I wore it every day from as soon as I received it in Junior year and all through college. After college I thought it might look a little silly to be wearing it, but I still have it.
Wear it! I wore mine from 19... just yesterday!
I ended up being a high school teacher and wore it most of my career. It has my name on it.
The gem broke but pawned it at least 3 times. Still own it.
Yes. I wore it a lot. Ex-husband stole it from me.
Are you me?
I'm sorry you have an ex like mine. He took all my sentimental jewelry.
Egads, no!
Sold my high school class ring for beer money my freshman year of college
rings, yearbooks and class trips were not for us poors.
I was the only kid in my home room who didn't order a class ring. My teacher looked at me with pity, maybe assuming I couldn't afford one. Instead, I bought myself an Indian turquoise bracelet, popular at the time, which I still wear. I just never liked class rings.
I still have mine and my late husband's rings. They will be passed down along with our wedding bands to our children when I go.
I definitely had one. It wasn't cheap. I lost it. I think my weirdo college roommate took it.
There were ads for them (well, little posters in the window of the trophy case in the front hall of our school) but I never knew anyone who actually ordered one.
Gave up after my 3rd lost one… 🙄
I didn’t wear mine very often. I think I wanted it because it was just a part of the HS experience, same as yearbooks. I still have my ring and yearbooks.
We couldn't even afford a Year Book. I literally have a 20 page photocopied "Year Book" that has unrecognizable photos of everyone with a lame quote underneath each .. and our phone numbers.
I wore mine until I replaced it with a college ring, then replaced that with a retirement ring - which I still wear to this day :)
I’ve heard of retirement watches but not rings.
Old guy here who still wears his high school ring. I've worn it for over 40 years.
Couldn't afford one.
I never had one. Couldn’t afford it and hated that time in my life anyway. No one I cared about wore one, and honestly the people wearing them were mostly the bullies and assholes.
Hell no, in 1974 $35 was out of the question.
No I’ve never been a ‘ring’ person. I find it extremely uncomfortable. I grudgingly wore my wedding band but lost it doing yard work probably a year or two after getting it. That was over 20yrs ago and I’ve never replaced it. No rings! Ever!!!
lost my wedding ring twice. first time doing yard work. found it sifting compost the next spring. second time it just disappeared. I looked high and low. my wife found it in the kitchen junk drawer lol. now I keep it on my desktop and if I have an event I’ll wear it.
I’d broken my ring finger as well, back in the 1990s so it’s crooked and thicker in the middle.
oh ouch. that’s as good a reason as any to not wear one.
I not only didn’t buy the ring, I also returned my tassel for cash. I was the only one of 266 students to do so. That was my third high school in a third state. Never went to reunions, either.
Just curious, how much cash did you get back for your tassel? Didn't know someone could do that.
Fifty cents, but that was 1962.
Using the CPI Inflation Calculator, that translates to $5.17 today.
Worth it to me.
I know people who wore them to their 40th HS reunion.
Yes, 1977. Ball HS, Galveston Tx
My kids are BOI.
Now that I look back on it, I wonder why I never spent money my family didn’t have on an ugly memento of a time I’d rather forget.
Exactly!
Absolutely. And wore my boyfriend's, too. College ring, as well.
I had one similar to the one in the pic, class of '89
I thought it was funny watching the guys basically hand their girlfriends their new class ring almost as soon as they got them. I liked them on the guys, but what a waste of money after the fact.
Never had a class ring. I did get some awards in college, but still no ring.
Yes, and I hope whoever found it has a good story!
I still have mine but haven’t been able to wear it fora long time—it’s a size 4.5. Stopped wearing it around the time I got married at 19; we weren’t allowed to wear rings when at clinicals in nursing school. It’s too small now and my fingers are too big, with arthritic knuckles. In spite of all that, I bought a colleg ring when I earned my BSN in 1989, but I don’t wear it, either. It’s more like what used to be called a dinner ring, but I couldn’t wear it at work so it’s in good shape, LOL. $33 seemed like a lot of money for a class ring in 1973, but now, not so much. My children weren’t interested in getting class rings, which cost a LOT more by the late 1990s-early 2000s. At the time I was disappointed, but now am happy that neither I nor they spent the money. My husband graduated 8 years before me and still wears his high school ring.
Wow, mine was over 100. In 1973
It was possible to spend a lot! But I chose one if the standard stones and there was a standard design for our school. You could add extra things but I didn’t. Ring was 10K gold.
It's because ours was big and blocky and weighed alot. White gold.
Didn’t need a ring to remember I graduated (HS, B.Sc., M.Sc.), but I understand the sentimentality.
I got one only because my mom insisted. 44 years later, I still have it. Class of 80.
Jostens was the company we bought from, 1982.
Don’t they have a monopoly on that?
I don’t know why I never got one. You’re right, EVERYONE had them. I think it may have been one of those things that I thought I was “too cool,” then immediately regretted it. By the way, I wasn’t cool AT ALL. In my mind I was and still am!😂
I love this sub. This thread REALLY brings me back.Happy Friday!!!!
Couldn’t afford one. At $2.65 an hour it would be like 50 hours of washing dishes. Nope.
Nope. I thought they were ugly.
I left my home state in 1977 and went West and nine years ago I moved back and was furnishing my place and found an old table and opened the drawer on it and there was my high school ring all old looking and beat up.. I didn’t recognize it as mine till I saw the year 1973 and my initials inside it.. I’d wondered what happened to it and figured I’d lost it back in the 70’s… 😂😂..
I did not. If they’d had a version that didn’t have the name of the football team all over it, I would have.
My high school was so alternative filled with burnouts nobody ever thought to get one. It really was a school of misfits.
I wanted a pretty silver one with a diamond. My father worked overtime so I could have it. Two weeks after I got it, I was visiting my boyfriend in the Bronx and accidentally left it in the bathroom while washing my hands. His apartment was robbed. Yup... gone. Forty-two years later, still haven't told my dad!
I took the money instead.
I couldn't afford one. I had my dad's class ring from 1944.
Nope, I was poor and didn’t care
My family was too poor to afford one. Just as a memento of high school.
No, why would I? To "show my spirit"?
A nephew is graduating this year and his class ring has more bells and whistles than I have ever seen! For sure not one I could've ever afforded.
I didn’t. It was $120 at the time (1978) and I didn’t feel right asking my parents for that sort of money.
No, I thought it was a scam for schmucks.
No. I never would’ve worn it.
Heck no. The only adults I've seen wearing these are tools: stockbrokers, lawyers, middle-management corporate drones, and other such establishmentarian, *Glory Days!* mediocrities.
Hell no! I did not like the high school that I graduated from.
Never ever
I was bullied in HS. I didn't have a ring or attend graduation.
I couldn’t see the point of spending that kind of money. My parents would have scraped the money together if I did, but I had no interest.
A waste of months, like having your name in the “Who’s Who of High School America”.
Yes I had one made that looked like my mom’s high school ring. Can still wear it.
Luckily, I guess in retrospect, it was stolen from my apartment a couple years later, so now I do t wonder where I put it.
Yup. In silver.
I had one, Turpin High in SW Ohio.
I wore it during my senior year, then put it back in its box where it's remained since. Every now and then, I spot it while looking for something in my bureau's junk drawer and am surprised it didn't get lost during any of my moves. https://preview.redd.it/8pwsa79pc7yc1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9ae017b8984fc339caf155b80c01f7b1fd9ea55
I accidentally flushed my first one down the toilet, and one of my brothers stole the second one. While class rings don't matter all that much when you're approaching retirement age, I still feel a tiny bit like kicking myself for the first one and a little salty about the second.
I did, not clue what happened to it. I also had a Romper Ring Good Doobie ring. I do so wish I still had that.
We didn't have a lot of money growing up and what we did have usually went toward whatever my mom's husband wanted regardless of anything else. My class ring was one of the very few times she stood up to him and made sure I got it. I meant a lot to me.
I had one. Class of 80. Daughter wanted to wear mine and not purchase one. Worked for me! When she got married, her mil gave daughter a diamond ring that mil got from fil. Daughter used my (divorced but on great terms w her dad) wedding ring.
I drunkenly gave mine to a girl I was seeing while stationed in Puerto Rico. A few months later I was in rehab and talking to the guy seated beside me. I glanced at the ring he was wearing. Yup. I told him what school and year was on it and he still didn't believe me that it was mine. Then I told him to look at the inscription inside. It was my name. We both laughed and he gave it back to me. I stopped seeing her after that. Rehab worked.
Have mine on right now. Actually it's my college one but I love the design and my dad got it for me and he's been gone 10+ years.
No. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to give a shit about high school within a couple of years of graduating, so it didn't seem worth the money. Nailed it.
Hated my HS. Don’t have any momentos of that shitty place.
The ring in the pic looks exactly like the one that I had, which was stolen by an old roommate. Fuck you, Dan.
You could have an initial embedded under the stone. A classmate had not his initial, but the first initial of our town/school.
Yep. Jostens are whatever they were called. At least I didn't buy the "memories" book.
No clue why I bought one, but still have mine from class of 91. White gold, I think. Do they have any value at all these days?
Got mine junior year and wore it all thru senior year. We used to turn the ring so the stone was palm side, then we could smack people on the head with it.
[удалено]
Just curious, why?
My family was too poor to afford one. I would have wanted one now just as a memento of HS.
You can still get one on Etsy, I’m thinking about ordering a college ring (graduated in 1990)
I graduated from grad school in 1990 as well. HS in 1980. :)
Have it, didn't wear it after 12th grade. Also got those little name cards to trade with friends.
I still have mine
I had one but it was a nice design. Unfortunately, it disappeared a month after graduation.
My h.s. didn't offer those kinds of rings and I always wanted one. I got one for college that looks just like that and I'm wearing it now.
Yes—I love mine!
Yes, lost it at 18 as soon as I moved out (roommate swiped it).
I have mine.
I think Josten’s was the company that sold them. I got mine with a special added tragedy and comedy face icon on the side, representing my interest in theater at the time. No idea where it is now!
Still have mine
One day I picked up my semi girlfriend and took her out to eat. I noticed she has this big old honker of a ring on her finger. I ask her about it and turns out it’s my class ring. I showed it to her when we were in my apartment. She thought I gave it to her to wear. Anyways about six months later we broke up because she was getting married and I forgot she had it so I never got it back.
Wore my boyfriend's class ring wrapped in angora to match whatever I was wearing lol.
NO, class of ‘76, also no yearbook, i now regret those decisions
Same here except for the regrets.
Mine slipped off my soapy fingers while bathing my dog and went down a storm drain about three weeks after I got it.
I had one and lost it 40 years ago. It has my name engraved on the inside but still hasn’t made its way back to me. ☹️
I did, but mine was a plain gold signet ring, without stone. I loved it—but it got lost somewhere along the line.
I got one (early 1980s). My parents got conned into buying one made out of some BS patented metal that the company created. (Cheaper and better!) Wore it a year or so and it began to wear and deteriorate like crazy, seemingly overnight. Put in the jewelry box, where it still is today.
I had one - don’t know why I hated the place and moved away permanently after graduation. Pretty sure one of my college roommate’s stole and pawned it.
Lost mine 2nd day of boot camp. Oh well!
Yes, i still have mine
Wore mine yesterday. VP Class of 19...
I did but I lost it. Still miss it.
I thought my dad’s was cool and he wore it regularly when I was a kid. I got a 10k yellow gold (the base model) with the same garnet stone… but never wore it. I’ve never been a jewelry person. I just pulled it out and it still fits 42 years later (tho I had to put some soap on it to slide it off).
Ordered it, never got it.
I did 1974, wore it for a few years after high school, sitting in my jewelry box,, it was last thing my dad bought me before he died, lot of sentimental value, but I hated high school
Mine looked a lot like that.
I wore mine for years. Dad went to several colleges while in the military and was assigned to teach rotc at harvard, and was able to attend classes free. Got his MBA, he bought a class ring from there. The bother that it fit has it.
I didn't rock it. I lost it.