Last week, the Class of 2027 participated in an important OLSH Tradition - Ring Day. Each November, the junior class at OLSH gathers together for Mass and dinner to celebrate class unity and their transition from underclassmen to upperclassmen. Class rings (or other meaningful trinkets) are blessed and distributed to the students as a symbol of this growth and connection. OLSH Legacy Families are recognized in a special way at this event. Parents who are OLSH alumni present their child with the blessed ring, and often have their own rings re-blessed at this time! It's a meaningful way to celebrate alumni who have chosen to send their children to OLSH.
Junior class president Anna Stickman, shared a reflection on the meaning of the event at the dinner that followed Mass. Below is the transcript of her speech:
Father Bill, Mrs. Donoghue, Mr Thomas, faculty, staff, families, and my fellow members of the class of 2027- Good evening and welcome to our Ring Day Celebration. This is an important night for our class and for our school. Thank you for being here.
When I was preparing my speech, I had some questions about tonight’s events that some of you may also have asked yourself.
-Why are you here?
-Why does OLSH have a mass, than a celebration about a piece of jewelry?
-Why do we do this junior year, rather than when we start as a freshman?
I think that there are multiple, related, answers to each of these questions.
Why are we here? Because it's an OLSH tradition for juniors to celebrate Ring Day. I think it’s important to recognize that Ring Day is an important part of OLSH’s culture and tradition. Preserving tradition is important. Tradition is how we pass down our values. It is how we deal with time, and the shortness of our time on Earth. Preserving tradition is necessary to preserve our culture. It is how we honor those who went before us and those who will follow us. We are here tonight doing what generations of OLSH students did before us. The students in all of the graduation class pictures on the school’s wall did this. For legacy students, our parents did this. Some of our siblings did this. And now we do this. We are living the tradition, and by living it, we are preserving it. And if we preserve it, long after we are just pictures in OLSH’s halls, future OLSH students will do this. We are the ring, for 2025, in the chain connecting the past with the future. And it's important that we choose to do this, because if one ring breaks, the whole chain breaks.
Why a ring? A ring is an important symbol. We use rings for our most important ceremonies. Women get engagement rings. Then, brides and grooms get rings on their wedding day. Kings and Queens are given rings on their coronation day. The Pope gets a ring after he’s elected. The ring, of each of these occasions, symbolizes a relationship and a commitment. The bride and groom’s ring symbolize their commitment to each other and their marriage. A king's and a pope’s ring symbolizes their commitment to the kingdom and the church. Our rings symbolize our commitment to OLSH and its values. Those values - faith, service, leadership, and excellence in everything we do are important, but also hard to achieve. Our rings are a visible symbol that we want to do our best to live by those values.
Finally, why is ring day for juniors? I think it’s because we are now upperclassmen. After being here for more than two years, we now know what OLSH expects of us. We are experienced enough in OLSH’s culture and traditions that we can now serve as examples to the underclassmen and to our friends and neighbors. We are now leaders and examples to the OLSH community and beyond, of OLSH’s values. So our rings are a sign that you can rely on us to set the example of faith, service, leadership, and excellence that OLSH represents.
To those of you who chose to be here tonight, who choose to keep this tradition alive. Thank you. May we all wear our rings with pride and, most importantly, live by the values that they symbolize. Thank you.