It was an exciting day for graduating students at St. FX yesterday. At a special ceremony at the
St. FX Senior Students receive their X-Rings (St. FX photo)
Charles V. Keating Centre, more than 900 St. FX seniors received their coveted class ring or X-Ring. It is said the X-Ring is the third most recognized ring on the planet, after the Super Bowl and Papal rings.
The guest speaker was 2002 graduate and former Coady Intern Maggie MacDonnell, who won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize in 2017. MacDonnell couldn’t be there for the ceremony, as she was grounded by the recent storms along the eastern seaboard. However, MacDonnell still made her presence felt, recording a brief video message to the students from an airport in Boston.
MacDonnell says the X-Ring is a reminder to those who wear it they come from a special place, that values community and that is those soft, intangible skills that make the world go around.
The university’s interim president Dr. Kevin Wamsley says in receiving the X-Ring, students’ commitment to community and service moves to a higher level.
Wamsley reminded the students that with the ring, it is a symbol of the pledge they made as freshmen in the St.FX Chapel.
The graduating class also presented an honourary X-Ring to Antigonish physician and St. FX athletics team doctor David Cudmore. Cudmore was inducted into the St. FX Sports Hall of Fame earlier this year.