Wolves in the whirlwind of their final semester at NC State are likely preoccupied with final exams, the job search, difficult goodbyes and the weight of the future on their shoulders. 

NC State’s twenty-year-old class ring tradition known as the Fellowship of the Ring at the Belltower was also on the horizon in the lead-up to commencement. During the event, students can personally place their class rings in the Memorial Belltower for one night only. This tradition is said to connect them to generations of Wolfpack alumni.

One of this year’s students in attendance waited nearly 50 years to take part in the tradition.

A Long Wait

Almost four decades after graduating, alumnus Hallet (Hal) Davis Jr. finally purchased his NC State class ring. It’s a full-circle moment that comes near the end of his career. A 1979, 1984 and 1988 NC State grad, the ring not only symbolizes new beginnings for Davis; it represents a timeless connection to the Pack. 

The day after the ring ceremony A Celebration of Pack Traditions takes place and includes a presentation and unboxing of the class rings, allowing recipients to experience a special moment uniting them with members of the Wolfpack through time. 

An NC State Alumni Life Member, Davis has never been far from the Pack. 

His earliest high school memories were characterized by complacency. He had decided to get at least a C in every class and didn’t seek to apply himself much beyond that. It was his first agriculture education teacher who challenged him to change that mindset, inviting Davis to go with him to Raleigh for an agricultural event. 

“He said, ‘Hal, I want you to come with me to NC State, get a degree in agricultural education, become an agriculture teacher, then a principal and then a superintendent,’” Davis said. “Those are the goals that he established for me all the way back as a freshman, and now I see all of that coming around full circle.”

Davis ended up going to Martin Community College in Williamston, North Carolina, after he graduated from high school, working hard due to the financial strain that textbooks and tuition had placed on his family. He pushed himself, becoming student body president and graduating with honors. Even so, he continued to meet roadblocks.

“When you make it in your career, you’re going to go back and get that ring.”

“I lost a lot of credits making the transfer from Martin Community College to NC State since they were on different credit systems at the time. I had to work much harder from that standpoint to catch up.” Davis shared.

“That being said, I wasn’t financially able to purchase a class ring when I graduated in 1979, so I decided to make that my goal. I told myself ‘When you make it in your career, you’re going to go back and get that ring.’”

Showing Students the Possibilities

Davis is now the executive director of the Northeast Regional School of Biotechnology and Agriscience, a North Carolina early college located in what used to be Jamesville High School, where Davis graduated. Just two hours from NC State, he is still walking the same hallways of his youth over 50 years later. 

“We serve students from Tyrrell County, Washington County, Martin County and Pitt County and our focus is on first-generation college families,” Davis emphasized. “Our challenge has been to help these students instill the idea that, yes, they can go to college. Yes, they can get a degree. We try to get our kids on college campuses as much as we possibly can, and we always encourage our teachers to wear their class rings and school colors.”

In the days leading up to the ceremony, when thinking about the people he wishes he could have shared the class ring ceremony with, Davis recalled, “Dr. Donald A. Emery, Dr. Charles Douglas Bryant, Dr. Joseph R. Clary, Dr. John K. Coster and professor George Blum are just a few of the important people I’ll be thinking of during the ceremony. They were tremendous role models, and they inspired the benchmark I established for myself and all the students I’ve taught over my career. I wanted to make sure I mentioned their names, because they truly set the bar.”

Coming Full Circle

When Davis arrived at the Memorial Belltower during that late April afternoon, he was filled with emotion and pride. He wished his parents were there with him after all they sacrificed to put him through college, and he felt a renewed connection with the alma mater that had changed the course of his life. 

He shared, “I am so very thankful to NC State Alumni and their first-class efforts for giving me the special opportunity to take part in both the ring and award ceremonies. It had been a really long time since I had joined arm-in-arm with fellow alumni in the singing of the university alma mater, and both events have crystallized my personal and professional association with the university for a lifetime.”

“It had been a really long time since I had joined arm-in-arm with fellow alumni in the singing of the university alma mater.”

Anytime NC State has activities taking place, Davis said he tries to participate. “If I didn’t feel positive about the relationship that I had with NC State, I probably would’ve retired a long time ago and been on a front porch somewhere in a rocking chair,” he said with a laugh.