NACOGDOCHES, Texas — It's a special day in Nacogdoches where Stephen F. Austin State University celebrated 100 years in a big way!
The SFA Alumni Association unveiled a nine-foot replica of the official class ring to mark the milestone. Former students had a role in making this ring.
"From the very start I was bleeding purple," said Candace Foster, 2008 SFA graduate. "I love the university, I love my friends and family that go to school here and the ones that I went to school with. We still keep in contact. We go to the football games."
It took 2,000 hours and five years to create the statue which now stands in front of the Austin building.
"To put this nine-foot ring statue here behind me in the principal position where the university started is really special and important because it puts the Austin Building in the background," said Craig Turnage, executive director of alumni relations.
Alumni had a chance to be part the ring making. They got pennies with their graduation year ring on it, then threw it in a cauldron to make the mold of the ring. Foster was one of those alumni who will now have a permanent mark on SFA history in this ring.
"It was a 2008 penny, and it was added to the mold...which is really special to me," Foster said. "It’s just such a great thing for our alumni but also our students when they get their rings from SFA, they’ll be able to take their pictures and it’s going to be here for a long time."
Erika Tolar, SFA Alumni Association president, said the ring is meaningful for all the 117,000 living alumni in the world that don’t have a ring.
"We welcome to come back to Nacogdoches and participate in a SFA Big Dip yourself, but at the very least come take a picture with the ring statue," Tolar said.
As Foster snaps another memory at her alma mater, she has this to say, "Axe 'em Jack."