Like many students around the United States, those studying at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are proud bearers of the American tradition of the class ring. Redesigned every year, these signet-style rings bear the insignia of the school: At MIT, it is a beaver, nicknamed the “the brass rat”, that is engraved on the flat top, with one side of the bezel featuring a rendition of the Boston skyline and the other side, a view of the Cambridge — specifically the university campus — skyline. Before they graduate, MIT students wear the ring in a way that the beaver and the Boston side of the bezel face them. At their commencement, the new graduates are asked to “flip the brass rat” — with the beaver now facing away from them, symbolising their entry into the wider world, and the campus skyline, which now faces the students, reminding them of the legacy, and its accompanying responsibilities, that they bear.

At the commencement ceremony for the Class of 2025 on Thursday, yet another cohort of MIT students flipped the brass rat and prepared to step into the rest of their lives, carrying with them both knowledge and a sense of their history, forever intertwined with the history of their alma mater, that binds them as a community. In........

© Indian Express