For her 18th birthday, Senior Sophia Stessman received a special ring from her aunt. Now that ring is lost, and Stessman needs help from the SHS community to recover it.
Stessman recently had left the ring in the girls locker room during PE class, and it was gone when she returned.
The ring has strong sentimental value for several reasons, Stessman explained. Her aunt, Benedicta, who had never married nor had children of her own, has always treated Stessman like a daughter. Benedicta had bought the ring for herself many years ago, and when she presented it to Stessman on her birthday, the ring came along with a story.
“When [my aunt] was much younger, she was looking around at rings in a store and was thinking that she wished she had a man to buy her one,” Stessman said. “She then realized she could buy herself one, that she deserved it and was worthy of it even if it wasn’t a man telling her so.”
So Benedicta bought herself a gold ring, one that had a ruby surrounded by diamonds, and she would wear it whenever she liked “because she was worthy to do it,” Stessman said.
“I adored her story, but I found my own meaning in the ring when I decided to commit to following my dream,” added Stessman, who is graduating this year and planning to work in the hospitality and tourism field.
“The ring was a symbol of self-proclaimed self-fulfilling freedom. It gave me the courage to commit to a college and follow my dream career even though I didn’t know where I would end up.”
A $100 reward is being offered for the return of the ring. Contact [email protected] or see Ms. Levitts in the main office.