In the United States, Canada and other countries, a class ring (also known as a graduation, graduate, senior, or grad ring) is a ring worn by students and alumni to commemorate their final academic year and/or graduation, generally for a high school, college, university and organization. Today class rings can be customized, from the material and style that the ring is made of to the color and cut of the gem in the center or no gems.There is a wide selection of emblems, pictures, and words that can be added to the sides of the rings and even inside the center gem.
The other United States Service Academies and the Senior Military Colleges have also implemented their own versions of the tradition, most commonly featuring a Ring Ceremony involving a dance or figure, occurring during the cadet or midshipmen’s spring of their junior year, or fall of their senior year.
A notable exception to this protocol is the custom followed by older graduating classes of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Today, as in years past, Academy graduates frequently wear their rings on the left hand in observance of the ancient belief, which also underlay the Anglo-American custom of wearing wedding bands on the left hand, that a vena amoris. Prior to graduation, these classes wore the USMA Class Ring with the Class Crest closest to the heart, signifying a given cadet's bond to his class within the Academy. Following graduation, members of these classes wore (and, for surviving members, still wear) the ring with the Academy Crest closest to the heart, signifying their bond with the Academy as a whole. CLASS RINGS, MINIATURES, AND A-PINS The traditional Jewish custom is to wear a wedding ring on the right index finger, and only women wore them originally. However, most Jewish people will move rings to reflect the national custom of where they live.
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