UHV holds ring blessing event, ring ceremony

jaX the jaguar sniffs the University of Houston-Victoria ring box at the jaguar exhibit at the Texas Zoo. Each year, the UHV class rings are placed in a locked box and secured at the jaguar exhibit for 24 hours so that UHV’s live mascot can “bless” the rings before being brought back to the university for the Jaguar Ring Ceremony.

Desirea Huerta, a UHV student from Tivoli who will graduate in 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice, poses for a photo after participating in the Jaguar Dunk. The Jaguar Dunk is a tradition UHV students can take part in after the Jaguar Ring Ceremony. For this tradition, students dunk their hands in a bowl of water from the Guadalupe River that has been dyed red, creating a temporary red stain on their hand.

The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.