Like most dads, Chris Burk immediately told his 10-year-old daughter that the object she was trying to fish out of Pig Pen Pond was probably trash. Emily was not to be deterred, and Burk said he “had egg on his face” when lo and behold, the piece of trash was actually a ring. A West Point class ring from 101 years ago. And wait, was that a name inscribed?
The Burks live a few miles from UMBC and occasionally use it as a place to take a family stroll. When they visited last summer, Burk noticed the water level was a little lower than usual in the body of water formally known as CERA Pond, which sits between the bwtech@UMBC Research and Technology Park and the loop across from Admin Garage. That’s when Emily got a stick to try to snag a shiny tab settled at the bottom of the shallow embankment.
The name on the ring—Santiago G. Guevara—led Burk, who is a land surveyor and well acquainted with historical research, on an internet crusade to 1) reunite the ring with the owner’s descendants and 2) figure out how in tarnation the ring got there in the first place. So far he’s only been able to check off the first item.
Enter Nick Guevara, a U.S. Navy veteran, dedicated family historian, avid blogger, and most importantly, Santiago Guevara’s grandson. Nick also has no clue how the family heirloom ended up in UMBC’s pond. (Although he does have a nephew, Quintin Simmons, who graduated in 2020 with a degree in geography and environmental systems. Simmons, who coincidentally has swum in Pig Pen Pond, didn’t know his great granddad went to West Point, much less had a class ring from 1923. In another twist of coincidence, Simmons works at a company housed in bwtech and can see the pond from his office.)
“I’m so flabbergasted that these things can still happen,” says Nick. “It makes the world feel small in a good way. We need more stories to bring people together.”
Do you have any clues about how Santiago Guevara’s West Point ring ended up in CERA Pond? What’s the best thing you’ve found on campus? Email us at magazine@umbc.edu.
Tags: CERA, GES, Spring 2025, Wild Card