I've always wondered ...

W

wines60

5-Year Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2010
Messages
42
.... what happens to all those hats which are tossed into the air at graduation?

Do the grads want them? I see kids gathering them up ...

Inquiring minds want to know! (I have a pretty good idea as to who will answer this!)
 
I kept mine. :smile: I threw it up just high enough to keep an eye on it so that when it came down I could catch it. Then squadronmates were slamming into me with hugs and high fives and I lost it. Found it a short while later, trampled but intact. My closest friends all kept their hats, too. Funny, if I had to do it all over again, I'd heave it up into the sky and let it go. It seems a more celebratory thing to do.
 
The tradition is to leave a note and the number of cents for your class year (e.g. 2010 put $20.10 in their hats). After words, the kids (under 8, IIRC) are allowed onto the field to get a hat, and its contents.
 
When my cousin graduated in 2006, my little brothers went out to grab the hats. The hats each had $20.06, and one had a note with an address, while the other did not. It really makes a special keepsake for a young child to look at for years to come to keep though. My little brother looks at that hat on his wall every day when he wakes up and dreams of attending the academy. Right now, he is in 7th grade, and I have him set up to get started with Civil Air Patrol to hopefully give him a foot in the door. =D
 
i chucked mine as hard and high as I could. I can still see the image of it soaring up with hundreds of others around me toward the contrails left from the thunderbirds. i then went to lighting my cigar and congratulating friends, and have no idea where the hat went or who got it. and i don't regret it one bit. one of the best moments of my life
 
raimius said:
The tradition is to leave a note and the number of cents for your class year (e.g. 2010 put $20.10 in their hats). After words, the kids (under 8, IIRC) are allowed onto the field to get a hat, and its contents.
Click to expand...

This year it was kids ages 7-10.
 
Just giving a perspective from the West Point side. In our case, the hats were for the kids to get and we also put names/addresses inside, but not money. Each new LT carried a silver dollar and gave it to the first person (usually another cadet) who saluted them.

My husband tossed his hat in the air in 1986 and nearly 2 decades later had it sent to him by the "kid" who'd gotten it then and was now (obviously) an adult and thought it might have more meaning to my husband than him. Kind of a neat surprise to receive in the mail that long later! :thumb:
 
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