Class ring at Vermont military college honors Oct. 1 shooting victims
A Vermont military college is using this year’s class ring to pay subtle tribute to those who died in the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting.
Norwich University, the oldest private military college in the United States, is featuring a flag at half-staff on this year’s Corps of Cadets class ring. After the shooting in 2017, the Northfield, Vermont, school held a remembrance ceremony.
“When this broke out and the tragic shooting happened, a lot of us had friends there,” said Cadet Col. Caleb Miller, who is from Arizona. Miller’s friends left the event before the shooting, but his sister lost a friend in the massacre, he said.
An elected class ring committee designs the class crest in the spring semester of the class’s sophomore year, according to the university, which serves both Corps of Cadets and civilian students. Miller, the highest-ranking student in the Corps of Cadets, led that committee.
The school’s echo taps ceremonies mark significant anniversaries, Miller said. Norwich also holds remembrance ceremonies for other major events.
The Oct. 1, 2017, shooting killed 60 people and wounded hundreds more. The death toll includes two women whose delayed deaths from complications of gunshot wounds were ruled homicide, though authorities have not included them in the official number.
Norwich University serves nearly 2,600 on-campus students and more than 1,400 online students. It is the birthplace of ROTC.
Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.