Class of 2019 Winning Ring Essay

The Class of 2019 celebrated Ring Dinner last Friday, October 20 and officially joined the Sisterhood! Each year the Young Alumnae Board sponsors a ring essay contest and students are asked to submit an essay about what the onyx means to them. Below is this year’s winning essay written by junior, Kirby Jones.

Dear Meredith Woman,

As beautiful as it seems now, what you may not realize is that the little black ring sitting on your finger has not always existed in its current form. At some point in the not too distant past, this gem that serves as a capstone of your Meredith College experience was little more than a mass of black rock buried beneath layers of mired soil. It wasn’t until someone mined it from the depths of the earth, brushed the dust off its surface, and transformed it through intense amounts of heat and pressure that its intrinsic beauty began to shine through.

Not unlike your onyx, you have undergone a process of transformation at Meredith that has refined and continues to refine you each day. If you’re anything like me, the beginning of your Meredith experience was marked by uncertainty about your value and questions about the kind of woman you wanted to become. While you may have had doubts about yourself, Meredith has never questioned your strength or purpose. You were chosen for your uniqueness, and through an enriching variety of relationships, experiences, and yes, even challenges, you are slowly being shaped to display the same force and luster embodied in this special ring that binds us together.

As you celebrate the onyx and all it represents, I think it’s crucial to remember that this process of refinement isn’t about creating something completely new, but about maximizing the worth and beauty that have been present all along. So, dear Meredith woman, take pride in the journey your onyx has taken and the way it mirrors your own. Most importantly, wherever this journey might take you now and in the years ahead, always remember that you are a crown jewel in an indescribable sisterhood of precious gems.