do kids in your area still get class rings and school jackets?

[Rock'n Robin]

I thought of this on the thread about school fees. At the HS where I teach, the school ring guy comes in every fall. But I see fewer and fewer kids with class rings. I know that even the fake metals (they have different names every few years) are expensive. When I got mine in 78, I got white gold for $60--RIGHT before gold shot up in price. I have DH's ring that is one of the fake gold ones and it is a pretty funky color after all this time. I don't know if the expense is keeping the kids from getting them, or they just aren't "in" right now.
Also, fewer kids get school jackets. I had a jacket without a letter because I wasn't an athlete--it was our school colors, had my name on the front, said "maumee panthers" on the back. Of course all the "jocks" had theirs as well. If we got letters for speech team I would have had one!! Now at my school some athletes have them, and some band kids, but not too many of the other kids. I see one kid at church that has a coat with his school name and "choir, drama, speech" instead of the usual sports, but that is VERY rare.
So, where you are, do HS kids still want rings and jackets?
Robin M.

 

[sk!mom]

Yes they do. DS20 loved his jacket but I don't have any idea what became of the ring.

 

[monarchsfan16]

Most of the kids in my senior class (this year) had class rings. Our school doesn't have jackets anymore. The kids who were on the football team a couple of years ago had them and wore them, but that was it (football is the big thing here). Heck our school wouldn't even sell sweatshirts because "nobody will buy them", even though 90% of the kids at school badly wanted one to wear to games or whereever. The athletes had them for their team, but nobody who wasn't an athlete had them. But we all wore our class rings. I've worn mine almost everyday since I got it, and it will be wierd to leave it home when I leave for college next month.

 

[sue1013]

DS just graduated none of his friends got a class ring. Those that are athletes got jackets.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Yup, people here get both. I didn't get a ring though, since I'm not a big jewelry person. I just got my letter jacket instead.

 

[jennyl772003]

I graduated in 96 and I had a ring. It was a "fake" metal and cost me something like $220. My grandma bought it for me for my pirthday that year, otherwise I would have never been able to afford it. I still have it, and it looked good the last time I looked at it.

My DH (then DFI) took my class ring to the jeweler when he bought my engagement ring so they could use for the correct size. It didn't work exactly since the fingers on my right hand are fatter then the ones on my left, but it was close.

The jocks in my HS all had letter jackets as well, but that was 9 long years ago.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Graduate Class of 96 here too.

My grandmother bought my class ring because I desperately wanted one. My Jr year (at the end of the year)I got fitted for a letter jacket because I had signed up for choir the next year. Our school had several ways of getting a jacket without paying for it:
1)Be in a sport and be all-state, all region,etc.
2)Be in choir/band/theatre and make a 1 on UIL comp
3)Be in band/choir/theatre from Fresh to Junior, sign up for Senior year and get your jacket free
4)Go out and pay for it yourself

In my area, I see lots of HS kids with jackets/rings. So I guess they're still popular here.

TOV

 

[loisg1]

DD will be a junior this year and last year didn't want a class ring. If she mentions it, we'll get her one, but no point in it just being another thing that sits around....!!

I had one when I graduated in '72 and DH had one when he graduated in '69.

 

[CinderellaIam]

My DD was class of 2004. She and all of her friends got rings and she had her jacket from cheerleading. A white gold ring, with a couple extras; ballet shoes on the side because she's a dancer, the school mascot under the stone, her signature inscribed inside the band, came to $475. My parents went half on it with me. Her school had a big "Ring Ceremony" where the kids received their rings. Where is the ring now? On a chain around her boyfriends neck. Every time I see it I get upset. All that money for HIM to wear it??

 

[LadyyRedd]

I graduated in 93 and didn't have either. I didn't want either of them. To me they were a waste of money (jmho, no flaming please!). I don't know of any of my friends who wore their ring much longer than a couple years after graduating. NOBODY I know of wore their jacket after their senior year. I lettered in both sports and academics and still have both letters (they look almost the same, with a slight difference to distinguish the athletics from academics), but I never got the jacket to put them on.

Kimya

 

[ktglads]

The rings and jackets are becoming less popular as the years go on since I graduated. The jackets have been replaced by the hooded sweatshirts with your school name on them. A lot of the rings have become more personal rings as opposed to the school rings, with personal birthstones as opposed to school colors so you would wear it longer than a normal ring

My graduating class of '98, about 90% of the class got rings. Our school had a special ceremony and mass to bless them and then you had to find people to turn your ring for you. It was one person for your graduation year, so I had to ask 98 people to turn my ring. And then to turn towards your thumb meant you were to become a nun and towards your pinkie was good luck.

Has anyone heard of that tradition before?

 

[tar heel]

My middle son will be a senior this year. He wanted and got a classring ($300 or so for 10kt) but passed on the letter jacket even though he has lettered four times.

His big brother, who is four years older, didn't want a class ring, but he loved his letter jacket and wore it a lot in high school. It's hanging in his closet now, but I don't think he's had it on in a couple years.

 

[disneysteve]

I graduated a while ago ('82) but even then I didn't see the point in a high school ring or jacket. I knew I was going on to college and then med school. So why would I want a ring or jacket with my high school name? Also, high school isn't something you pick - you go where you live. Nothing prestigious about it. Now college is a different story. You pick where to go and have to qualify and be accepted. A little more status there. I do have a jacket from college (though I haven't worn it for years). I never got a ring because I'm not a big ring wearer. Only wear my wedding band and that's only because DW insists.

 

[Talking Hands]

Both my girls got class rings. Neither got jackets. Oldest doesn't wear hers because she dropped out to enter college early but the younger one does wear hers. Older daughter's school didn't have jackets at all, just sweat shirts which she does have. No varsity sports there anyway. She want to the school for the arts.

 

[tar heel]

Steve -- One thing that can make a letter jacket a bit more useful is that at the two schools my boys have attended, you were eligible to buy one as soon as you got a varsity letter. If you lettered as freshman in a fall sport, which my second child did, you could have been wearing a jacket before winter was over of 9th grade. I would consider four winters to be a great amount of wear time!

When I was in school, you couldn't get a letter jacket until you were a junior.

 

[christineann]

My son got a letterman's jacket but not a school ring. He didn't wear the jacket much. He said that he would probably never wear a high school ring, especially since he will be wearing a wedding ring and college ring someday. Only about half the kids in his class got a ring. Same with my daughter's class - she chose not to order a ring either. She has athletic letters but the girls at our school don't ever order the jackets.

 

[funhouse8]

My kids get there class rings at a ring dance in 10th grade. They do wear them for awhile, I think it helpd that our school gets them early because once they go to college they never put them on. :thewave:

 

[Soccer Princess]

Almost everyone in my school got class rings. We have a Ring Ceremony during Junior Year and they try to make a big deal out of it. I cannot think of a single person without one. Mine is white gold with a red square stone, my name and class (2003), soccer ball on one side and our mascot on the other. I am going to disagree about not having a choice for where you went to high school. In Louisville, you can choose a school based on its magnet and academic programs (i.e. AP or Liberal Arts). BTW, I still wear my HS ring all the time. Even if I stop wearing it when I graduate from college that's a total of 6 years I did wear it.

The letter jackets, are another story. They still give out the actual letters but hardly anyone gets the jackets. I have 4 letters plus all of the little bars and patches and they are sitting in a box somewhere. I think it's a regional thing.

 

[disneysteve]

BTW, I still wear my HS ring all the time.

I wonder how many people continue to wear their HS ring after graduating from college (where you might also get a ring). I could see getting a ring if they were cheap, but can't see spending a couple hundred dollars for a ring you will stop wearing after 3 or 4 years.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I wonder how many people continue to wear their HS ring after graduating from college (where you might also get a ring). I could see getting a ring if they were cheap, but can't see spending a couple hundred dollars for a ring you will stop wearing after 3 or 4 years.

Even though I didn't really choose my high school (I had 3 options, 2 were free one was not; didn't get accepted by the other free one so we decided to just go with the flow instead of paying tuition for hs), I have a lot of pride in my school. I just graduated but I will be a Crusader for life. I was not an athlete, so didn't have the opportunity to get sweatshirts, or letters. I have a couple school t-shirts, but in an area where we only wear short sleeve shirts maybe 3 months out of the year, I wanted another way to show pride in my school. And although it wasn't a real struggle for me to graduate from high school, I had a lot of accomplishments while in high school. I got my ring November of junior year and have worn it since. Will I wear it in college? Probably not. But I am extremely happy to have been able to wear it these past couple years. To me, it was totally worth the money. But that's just my humble opinion.