VIEWS
PROVIDED
A poster with personal notes and
photos served as a surprise high
school graduation gift.
FROM FACTORY TO FINGER
Hard work goes into earning Aggie Rings — and making them, too
% A f hen I came to Texas A&M three
1 # 1 # years ago, I didn’t realize how
l/ \m s P ec i a l t ^ ie Texas A&M Aggie
W W Ring was. Raised in a Longhorn
household — pause for appropriate hissing
— I didn’t really get what was so special
about the ring until my own Ring Day
drew closer and closer.
Now, three years later, the day of get
ting my own Aggie Ring has come, and I
understand it. As I itch to have mine on
my finger, I get why it’s a big deal. But,
like, many other Ags, I didn’t understand
the process that little piece of gold had to go
through before getting oh my hand and on
the hands of the other 4,900 Aggies getting
their rings Friday.
Last year I had the great pleasure to go to
the factory where Aggie Rings are made and
see the process from start to finish. Starting
from nothing more than a molding of hot
wax, the Aggie Ring goes through hours of
heating, cooling, sanding, shining, polishing,
antiquing, washing, pebbling and engraving
(and half the time, set with a diamond).
The process from Aggie Ring-tree to
boxing and shipping can take two to three
days of excruciating detail. Every single
crevice is shined and polished. The ring is
made to be just the right thickness, to be
sturdy but not sharp. It is inspected twice
before shipping.
Seeing the men and women who have,
on average, spent two decades making Ag
gie Rings, seeing the care each ring is given
as it is hand crafted, gave me a completely
new perspective on how special the Aggie
Ring is, not only to those who wear it but
to those who forge it.
Their hands show the wear and tear of
their hard work, many of them working
without gloves or only with a small leather
finger protector. Those who work with the
hot gold are often up at 5 a.m. to begin the
process.
Just as no two Aggies are the same,
neither are any two rings, as each undergoes
hand “pebbling,” the act of adding the small
indents at the bottom of the ring. Other in
stances of close hand crafting further makes
each ring unique.
The workers were so thrilled to meet us,
too. They took pride in their work, and said
they looked forward to seeing Aggie Rings
around outside of the factory.
At the end of the four-hour trip, I not
only felt honored to get to one day wear
the Aggie Ring because it was a symbol of
this beloved university, but because it is a
symbol of the passion that goes into hard
work of all kind. And Friday, at 7:45 p.m.,
I get to forever have that reminder on my
right hand.
Lindsey Gawlik is a telecommunication
and media studies junior and news editor for
The Battalion.
One ring, generations of history
Photos by Alii Bradshaw — THE BATTALION
Ag science junior Garrett Hancock wears a
ring that belonged to his great-grandfather,
Frank Foster, Class of 1953.
By Trey Reeves
Behind each Aggie Ring is a story, one
that tells of the long and difficult road the
wearer traveled to achieve the golden symbol
of success for their time as a student at Texas
A&M.
For some, that story transcends themselves,
as the rings they wear so proudly were passed
down from Aggies of years gone by.
For Glenn Hudson III, Class of 1985, it
was important to continue the legacy of his
father, Glenn Hudson Jr., Class of 1943. Plus,
it saved some money.
“Basically we were just being cheap, to be
honest. It was less money we had to spend to
get a college education, and my dad wasn’t
wearing his ring anymore,” Hudson III said.
“We melted down the ring, and it has Class of
’85 on it. And then on the inside it says Glenn
Hudsonjr. Class of’43 and Glenn Hudson III
Class of ’85.”
Hudsonjr. was older than many of the par
ents of his son’s classmates. Being a young,
able-bodied man in the early 1940s, he was
called into service in Japan to serve on the
front lines during World War II.
“If you were due to graduate in May of
1943, they graduated you early, in Decem
ber of 1942, because they needed people with
some sort of military background,” Hudson
III said. “He went home to San Antonio, and
then that night the military called him and
told him to be at the train station the next
morning.”
Hudson III said the ring he now wears
was probably responsible for keeping his fa
ther safe, and therefore able to start a family
once he returned home. On his first day in
the country, a general spotted Fludson Jr.’s
Aggie Ring, which sparked a conversation.
“An older guy asked him, ‘Son, are you
from Texas?’ when he looked down and saw
the ring,” Fludson III said. “It turns out
it was a general. I le told him that he was
changing his orders and that he needed
him to be a general’s aide. He was in Ja
pan for six years and was never shot at.
Who knows what would have otherwise
happened to him.”
Agricultural science junior Garrett
Hancock also continued a family legacy
by wearing a ring that belonged to his
great-grandfather, Frank Foster, Class of
1953, who died during Hancock’s senior
year of high school.
Hancock said Foster gave him the ring
upon hearing his decision to attend A&M
and join the Corps of Cadets, and that
Foster had been instructed by his cousin
to keep passing the nng down to mem
bers of their family.
“My family and I were visiting for the
weekend and I wanted to tell him my
decision because he was a Class of ’53,”
Hancock said. “I le went to his room and
brought back a box and preceded to tell
me a story of his cousin, Ralph G. Grif
fin ’46, and how he had been given this
ring to pass down to a Foster. Because
of my commitment to the organization
that had shaped my great-grandfather and
many other Foster’s alike, he wanted me
to have the ring and carry on the Foster tra
dition.”
The ring Hancock has worn proudly since
completing his 90th hour last semester now
serves as a reminder of those in his family that
came before him, and what he has accom
plished during his time at A&M so far.
“Ever since that day I have held on to the
ring as a reminder of what I started and a to
ken of my gratitude for my family,” Hancock
said. “This journey has been the best time of
my life, but when I see my ring on my finger
I know that it is only the beginning. From ’46
to ’16 a lot has happened and from ’16 on I
know the best is yet to come.”
While the link to his family’s past is clear,
Hancock said the link he feels to his larger
Aggie family is still just as prevalent.
“I am very joyous of my accomplishments
at A&M and I feel that this ring is a symbol
of those accomplishments and those before
and after me,” Hancock said. “This ring holds
special value to me, yes, but it is a symbol
that all Aggies one day share. My ring is just
as special as any other ring that is worn by
the Aggie family. It’s our connection to each
other.”
'This ring is
for you'
Ring Day cements my family's
pursuit of happiness
■■■
■■■ oday I graduate. Not with a diplo
ma, but with a Texas A&M Class
of 2016 Ring. Three semesters
remain, but the only verification
anyone asks for when they hear you are
an Aggie will finally rest on my finger at
12:30 p.m. Friday.
More important than the ring, however,
will be the people who present it to me.
My mom and dad, sisters and brother have
all taken the day off from work. They will
drive with my aunt from San Antonio
Friday morning, and they’ll finally get to
see how I spend the better half of the year.
Maybe they’ll even pick up The Battalion.
I grew up in a family perfect because of
its drawbacks. Day trips to the beach or
to the river saw all six of us crammed into
a single car; Sundays were spent sweating
through church before large family lunches
at my grandma’s house. My parent’s gen
eration worked hard for what they had,
and my generation was pulled struggling
into this work ethic. Weeknights were
spent in front of textbooks, on a sports
field or at a piano bench. Weekends were
filled with home repair jobs or beneath the
hood of a car.
This adolescence of activity was dictated
by a constant mantra: “ You will go to
college, you will get an advanced degree
and you will do what is necessary to make
it all happen.” Never mind the uncertain
finances and the possibility of debt. It was
an unquestionable mandate. Academics
and discipline were instilled in me from a
young age, but it wasn’t until college that
I realized why.
I am the completion of my family’s
American Dream. My great-grandparents
fled north to escape the Mexican Civil
War, and created a new home in South
Texas. My grandma tells me stories of how
she took care of her siblings and helped
her parents keep the family afloat in their
new country; she dropped out of grade
school and never learned how to read. She
had six children who scattered across San
Antonio to become teachers, join the mili
tary and start families on their own.
One of her sons joined the Marine
Corps straight out of high school. He trav
eled the world and wooed a San Antonio
girl with letters and weekend visits. They
married and worked full time, sometimes
at multiple jobs, to provide their four chil
dren with every opportunity possible.
One of those children looked up at'
the night sky one evening, and wondered
what could possibly be there. His parents
didn’t have the answer, but they told him
if he worked hard, one day he might go
there and find out.
A decade or so later, I am on my way.
It amazes me to think that my grand
mother never had the chance to read, yet
I now study engineering at one of the
best universities in the world. The ring I
will wear is not just mine. I am only the
current chapter in my family’s American
story, and I am incredibly blessed that so
many people worked hard before me to
make it possible. No success is possible
without sacrifice, and no sacrifice is worth
it without family.
Thank you Mom, Dad, Rebecca, Sarah
and Michael. I love you. This ring is for
you.
John Rangel is an aerospace engineering
junior and SciTech editorfor The Battalion.