A DREAM DEFERRED: Mom, Son Set to Share Aggie Ring Experience
COLLEGE STATION -- It's perhaps the one defining moment that young Texas A&M University students look most forward to other than graduation itself, the distinctly Aggie rite of passage that instantly and eternally links them to thousands of other former students around the world in a single, circular display of rich history and symbolism as unique as their beloved university -- receiving an Aggie ring.
On Thursday (May 14), Kitty Havens '74, will finally receive hers 35 years after attending graduate school at Texas A&M for a master's degree in mathematics. Decades of anticipation notwithstanding, Havens' Aggie Ring Day will be anything but ordinary. The Port Arthur native will be presented with her Aggie ring at the same time her son, current Texas A&M student Kenneth Lounge, receives his. The presentation is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Clayton W. Williams Jr. Alumni Center, home of Texas A&M's Association of Former Students, on the Texas A&M campus.
Lounge, who is slated to graduate in August with a degree in anthropology, opted to skip April's scheduled Ring Day in order to receive his ring alongside his mother, who is thoroughly excited to experience what many consider to be one of Texas A&M's greatest traditions with her son. Having missed the opportunity to receive her ring as a student the first time around, Havens says her newfound realization of the symbolic significance of an Aggie ring, coupled with the fact that her son will share in the moment, has given her all the more reason to take part in the monumental occasion.
There was a time, however, when Havens didn't think it was such a big deal. In 1974 the young Lamar University graduate had other things on her mind besides an Aggie ring -- things like actually finishing graduate school at Texas A&M and finding a decent job. Besides, an Aggie ring might end up much like high school rings normally do, locked away and forgotten in a jewelry box in the back of the closet. That or just lost.
Despite the fact that Havens genuinely enjoyed her year-and-a-half stay at Texas A&M, even participating in extracurricular activities such as sports, the shiny band of metal simply didn't appeal to her.
"It was one of those things I just didn't do," she says. "At the time, I didn't think it would stay with me or be as significant some day."
Havens did, however, sport a bracelet with a Texas A&M logo charm, and for a while, she was perfectly content with the solitary memento.
After finishing graduate school, Havens landed a job with Lockheed Electronics, a sub-contractor for the Johnson Space Center. After five years of building experience and meeting the right people, Havens went to work for Johnson Space Center in 1979 as a shuttle flight controller. She retired in 2005 as Director of Financial Management for Independent Technical Authority in the Office of the Chief Engineer at NASA Headquarters before joining Perot Systems in Fairfax, Va., where she works in the area of safety and mission assurance.
All the while, Havens says people seemed to be taking notice of her Texas A&M charm, and their comments helped inspire her to re-evaluate her time at Texas A&M back in the mid-1970s.
"I realized that there weren't many women of my age who were graduates of Texas A&M," Havens explains. "At the time, we were still transitioning into a co-ed college, so it was significant."
It wasn't until she visited an old college friend in Panama that the importance of owning an Aggie ring really hit home.
"I visited her a couple of times, and her sons had gone to Texas A&M, too," Havens says. "One of the last times I was down there, she talked about how much it meant for her and her boys to have Aggie rings. I guess that's where the seed was planted."
When Lounge told his mom that he had decided he was going to Texas A&M, Havens thought of a great idea that didn't pan out exactly the way she had envisioned, but in the end would still be meaningful to her and her son.
"Originally, I was going to surprise my son on his Ring Day by showing up and getting my own ring as well, but I couldn't get him to tell me any details about it," she says. "That's when I started looking around for myself. I told him to go ahead and get his ring because I was going to come down there and get mine, too."
Lounge, who is happy to be nearing the end of his days as an undergraduate student, says he doesn't mind waiting a little longer to receive his ring. Considering the fact that he decided to come to Texas A&M in the first place because of the university's notable reputation and his mom, he says he's looking forward to sharing in their Aggie ring experience.
Arguably more cherished by Aggies than the diploma itself, the Aggie ring holds a great deal of significance for Lounge as he prepares for his graduation and recounts his memories at Texas A&M.
"Aggie rings have a lot of heritage," he notes. "Texas A&M is tradition-based, and Texas A&M has so many symbols. The ring represents what it means to be an Aggie and where you come from. Aggie rings are immediately noticeable to other Aggies, so it's like an unspoken bond between them."
Today, Havens holds similar beliefs.
"It's a symbol of the achievement of a degree at one of the most highly recognized educational institutions in the U.S.," Havens says. "But it's also a symbol of the place where I did a lot of growing up, making friends, and learning about what I could possibly become. So it symbolizes both achievements and hope for the future. That may be why I want to share the moment with Kenneth, since it's his achievement and beginning of a career from a special place."
Havens and her son are ready and counting down the days until they will finally sport official Aggie rings, but the big question still remains: Will Havens dunk her ring with her son as well?
"We'll just have to wait and see how it goes," she says with a laugh.
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