The key is not “awarded” – it is merchandise that is purchased. (I don’t know, maybe some chapters give their inductees free pins, but that’s a perk - it is still merchandise that someone has paid for). I bought the $30 pin for my daughter, but if you want the large solid gold pin along with matching chain, it will set you back $310. I assume that anyone who would pay that would fully intend to wear.
And men wear jewelry.
My husband was given his key at the induction ceremony. It is a plain gold key with PBK engraved. It does not have a chain. How is that jewelry?
Who cares if one uses it as a jewelry and anothe does not?
Maybe they were “given” in the old days (or maybe some PBK chapters buy them for their inductees?), but we had to purchase for my kid. I got a less expensive one for my D, but did purchase it for her.
We were certainly not given keys. And, no offense to anyone here who thinks of it as more, but I’m not paying $300+ for a commemorative jewelry piece that is going to sit in a box somewhere. I don’t have $300+ to buy something that will sit in a box… and even if I did, I wouldn’t buy it because the physical momentos like that mean nothing to me.
To each his/her own.
Romani, I didn’t pay $300 either – but as I noted I went for the smaller electroplate – $30 - a little more actually, because I also got the neck chain that goes with it. And understand why you would not pay for that yourself, but that definitely is within the mommy-price range for as small gift to celebrate what I saw as a major accomplishment.
And I did see it as a big deal for my daughter – she went off to a college that was a big reach for her, and found herself surrounded by students who all had higher test scores and came in with stronger academic foundations than her public high school afforded. I couldn’t afford to give her an allowance; she had to max out on loans and work for her spending money and to buy text books and food – she always had at least two part time jobs and sometimes she was simultaneously working as many as 4 or 5 different part time jobs. I often read posts on CC from parents who don’t want their kids to have to work during college because they want them to have time to focus on academics – my daughter had to do it all, and I know it wasn’t always easy. So yes, I was proud of her and was glad that there was an easy way for me to show my pride-- and that there was a gift option within my budget.