Class of 2024 Ring Delivery held at Fairmont Copley Plaza Sunday
Refreshments, live music, professional photography included at event
MAXWELL YUN — THE TECH
Ring Delivery for the Class of 2024 was held April 24 from 7–10 p.m. at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston. In addition to receiving their brass rats, sophomores in attendance enjoyed refreshments, live music, and professional photography.
Around 1,000 of 1,071 sophomores attended the event. Prior to the event, sophomores could be seen taking photographs at Killian Court.
Attire for Ring Delivery was black tie. Plus ones were not permitted due to venue capacity, limited resources, and COVID-19 policies.
Food options included a charcuterie table, short rib grilled cheese, heirloom tomato bruschetta, vegetarian spring rolls and rice paper rolls, and doughnuts.
In an interview with The Tech, Ring Delivery Chair Isabella Struckman ’24 said that planning for the event began mid-November to early December.
According to Struckman, the Class of 2024 Ring Delivery was “incredibly influenced” by that of the Class of 2023, though aspects were changed “based on [the Class of 2023’s Ring Committee’s] advice, our own class, and our individual ideas.”
Similar to the Class of 2023’s Ring Delivery, the event included an ice sculpture of the ring and a live band. The live performer, Chance Emerson, was “fantastic,” Struckman said, adding that a highlight of her night was “dancing with [her] friends to the live music.”
“Ringcomm put so much effort and work into the event and it really showed!” Sadhana Lolla ’24 told The Tech in an interview. “From the ice sculpture to the live band to the food, everything was really well put together and it was an incredible way to celebrate being halfway through our journey at MIT.”
Differently from the Class of 2023’s event, which took place October 2021 and where masks were required, COVID-19 had “very little impact” on the Class of 2024’s Ring Delivery, though the committee did develop contingency plans in case the situation worsened, Struckman said.
Struckman said the choice of Fairmont Copley as the venue was motivated by the Ring Committee’s preference for “old-world glamour detail above some of the more modern choices like the State Room” in order to have a “more fairytale kind of budget.”
Struckman also noted that a hotel like the Fairmont Copley would usually be “far out of budget, but because of COVID their rates had dropped enough for the committee to be able to afford it.”
On behalf of the Ring Committee, Struckman said that she hopes “Ring Delivery was an event befitting of such a momentous moment, and that everyone had a wonderful night full of great memories.”
Shriya Rangaswamy ’24 concurred in an interview with The Tech, saying that the event was “a very memorable evening and felt like a true commemoration of the very unique experience that we as sophomores had at MIT.”
Additionally, Rangaswamy said that it was “really nice to finally see so many members of our class in one place and have us bond over this quintessential part of our MIT experience.”
Servicing for students whose rings did not fit and ring pick-up for students who did not attend the event was available from Herff Jones at the Stratton Student Center the Monday and Tuesday following Ring Delivery.
Srinidhi Narayanan contributed to the reporting of this article.