Thousands of students and their families are coming together on campus to celebrate this semester’s Aggie Ring Day.
Split between Friday and Saturday, the April Ring Day is the largest one of the year. To qualify for their rings, undergraduates must complete at least 90 hours of coursework, with 45 of those hours at Texas A&M. This spring, 47 percent of the rings that were ordered were large or men’s rings and 53 percent were small or women’s, with a majority of the orders coming from students in the Class of 2019 and 2020.
The Association of Former Students has announced several changes to this year’s festivities and plans to provide any additional updates through email, @AggieRingDay on Twitter and at tx.ag/RingDayStatus.
Students who are scheduled to receive their Aggie Rings typically gather at the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center. However, due to severe weather, students who are receiving their rings on Saturday will gather in the Student Recreation Center instead.
On Friday, Houston Street will be closed for the entirety of the event, from 30 minutes prior to Ring Day to 30 minutes after. Kathryn Greenwade, vice president for communications and human resources at The Association, said she recommends parking in West Campus garage for either day. From the garage, Saturday ring recipients can walk right to the Rec’s main doors, and Friday recipients can ride the Ring Day shuttle over to the Alumni center. The shuttle, which will only run on Friday, will also pick up passengers from Lot 100. The Cain and University Center garages will be available to park in as well, but without transportation to the alumni center.
Greenwade said students and families should be aware that there are also changes in how students gather for the event, with the lines forming in the parking lot of the Alumni center toward Throckmorton Street.
“In the past, everyone gathered from the Ring Plaza to Houston Street,” Greenwade said. “For this year, everyone is getting together in our parking lot. We’re going to have a couple of large tents set up in the parking lot, so you’ll have a hard surface to stand on, and it’ll also allow us to keep everyone out of the streets.”
Over 500 staff members and volunteers are committed to keeping the day successful, with accommodations for potential schedule changes and shifts in the weather.
For students who miss an opportunity to get their Aggie Rings at their scheduled time, there will be an ‘all call’ at the end of every hour, as well as one at the very end of the event, to allow possible late students a chance to pick up their ring. For students who miss Ring Day altogether, the rings will also be available for pickup during the alumni center’s regular business hours any day afterward. No matter when they get their rings, students also need to bring either two forms of ID, or one form of ID and their Ring receipt.
Greenwade said students participating in Ring Day should generally arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before their pickup time.
“We want you to arrive ahead of your pickup time, but we don’t want you to wait too long, especially if you have family members who can’t stand for too long,” Greenwade said.