Ring Day

By Renata Cioth Mulder

What a pleasure it was to celebrate Ring Day again on its traditional fall date, and to celebrate in person! Ring Day ceremonies were one highlight of a week of cherished traditions in fall 2021.

On Sunday, October 24, 2021 we enjoyed our annual Mother-Daughter Communion Breakfast, a wonderful celebration for Ursuline students and the very important women in their lives. The Communion Breakfast also signals the unveiling of the Senior Quilt, a symbol of unity through individuality. The Class of 2022 created 163 squares making one unified work of art. We thank the Mothers’ Auxiliary for hosting this special gathering for our school community.

Ring Day took place in sunny weather on Thursday, October 28. It was our second year in a row hosting Ring Day outdoors, on Kelly Mac Field. Seniors and their parents first attended the Ring Day Liturgy, coming together as a spiritual community to acknowledge the class and their journey together. At the conclusion of the Ring Day Liturgy, we blessed the rings which the Class of 2022 then received in a ceremony that dates back to 1940.

The campus was decorated in style, both inside and outside, on the Ring Day theme of New York, New York! Members of the Visual Art Department faculty and the Juniors transformed the school into a slice of the Big Apple. Principal Rosemary Beirne delivered the Ring Day remarks. She said, “Start spreading the news! New York, New York is

back and so are we at Ursuline. And we all want to be a part of it. The Broadway lights are brighter than ever, and so are ours. Like New York City, our students are quite a resilient bunch. . . And how will we remember you, the 162 members of the Class of 2022?

We will remember you as strong and bold students, with gifts and talents greater than any Broadway star. We will remember you as the Seniors who, despite the pandemic, managed to do just as many service hours during COVID as in the year prior. . .

Broadway has produced many great female characters. . . Many strong and courageous women have called The Big Apple their home off stage as well. Three have become supreme court justices . . . In sports, Althea Gibson made history in her professional tennis career in New York; Abby Rockefeller used her fortune to help create the museum of modern art; and Naval Rear Admiral Grace Hopper was a pioneer in modern computer science.

Just as New York has bred remarkable women, so too has Ursuline. They are sitting before me right now. The values this school teaches each day, to be courageous, to dream big, to defy gravity, will be with you each time you look at your ring and see: Ac Fui, I was there.

Whether you see your face in lights or your name on marquees found down on Broadway, you’re home in New York, where dreams are made of. Please know that you are always home here at Ursuline. The ring that you receive today is your key to the city, your ticket for life to the Ursuline community, whose members you have changed for good and for better by being here.”

The next evening, Seniors donned long gowns and their dads put on tuxedos to attend the traditional FatherDaughter Dance. Underclass students also attended with their fathers. It was a “night to remember with the best dates in town!”