What’s your most prized VCU memento?

When I was a kid, my parents gave me a coin bank made from an old post office lock box. I still have it — as I type this, it’s sitting on a high shelf behind my chair. 

Every so often I’ll pull it down and thumb the combination dials and think about my dad (hi, Dad!). He spent 36 years working for the U.S. Postal Service, the last 29 as a postmaster in the New York City suburbs.

Objects connect us to people, places and times in our lives. Even clothing, or seemingly ephemeral items, like ticket stubs or the Winnie-the-Pooh cake topper from my daughter’s first birthday, can turn into keepsakes. My wife still has a decades-old thermos from a visit to Bryce Canyon National Park, and we often drink morning coffee out of a set of Minnie and Mickey mugs we picked up years ago on a trip to Walt Disney World.

So when the editorial staff were kicking around ideas for a new series to encourage readers to share their own stories, mementos was the first prompt that came to mind. And for VCU Magazine, it seemed fitting to lean into school spirit.

Do you have a prized keepsake from your time at VCU (a photo, hat, jersey, water bottle, VCU keychain, Rodney stuffed toy, coffee mug, ticket stub, etc.)? In 200 words or less, tell us about it and why it’s so special to you.

Email your story to magazine@vcu.edu with the subject line “MEMENTO.” Please include your name, degree/year (if applicable) and address, and your job title if you are a VCU or VCU Health employee. And send us a photo of yourself with the object. We’ll select some of your responses to appear in a future issue.

Thanks for sharing your stories with us.