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Hokie Gold legacy program
Wanting to honor their 50th anniversary reunion and create a lasting legacy, Jess Fowler (general science '64), along with other Class of 1964 M Company members of the corps of cadets, proposed a special program that is designed to pass on the spirit of Virginia Tech through the university's cherished class ring tradition. The program enables alumni and families to donate their class rings to be melted down to create Hokie Gold, which would then be included in the gold for the class rings of the next junior class. Other universities, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, have such programs in place. The Class of 1964 will launch the inaugural Hokie Gold program in spring 2012. The rings will be melted at the new Virginia Tech Foundry Institute for Research and Education (VT FIRE) on campus. The resulting ingot, or "billet," will then be refined at the Balfour manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas, and processed into tiny pellets so that a small amount can be included in all Class of 2014 gold rings. In addition, a portion of the gold will be saved for inclusion in the following year's program. Thereafter, a new group of rings donated by December will be melted down and made into Hokie Gold for inclusion in rings for the next junior class. For each year of Hokie Gold, biographical information about the donated rings' owners will be compiled. Six members of the Class of 1964 have already committed to donate their class rings to Hokie Gold. It is Fowler's wish that the program continue in perpetuity to extend the heritage of Hokie Gold into the rings worn by future Hokies. For more information, visit www.alumni.vt.edu/hokiegold.
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