After seventy-one years away, the journey back was not just physical—it was deeply personal.
At 92, Jane Leete still remembers where it all began.
Yesterday, the alumna of the Class of 1955 returned to Egerton University, the institution that shaped her early life and set her on a lifelong path. What unfolded was more than a courtesy call; it was a reunion between past and present, memory and progress.
She paid a courtesy visit to the Vice Chancellor, Prof Isaac Kibwage, in a meeting defined by warmth, reflection, and quiet significance.
For Jane Leete, Egerton is not just a place.
It is where life, as she describes it, truly began.
Graduating in 1955 from what was then Egerton Agricultural College, she belongs to a generation that experienced the institution in its formative years—when education demanded resilience, discipline, and a clear sense of purpose. Returning over seven decades later, she carried with her not just memories, but perspective.
She walked through a campus transformed.
Modern buildings now stand where modest structures once were. Research has expanded. Student diversity has grown. The scale is different. The ambition is broader.
But something essential has endured.
The spirit.
During her visit, Jane spoke with clarity and affection about her time as a student. The routines that shaped her. The rigor that tested her. The community that supported her.
Those early experiences, she noted, were foundational.
“Egerton gave me direction,” she reflected. “It gave me a beginning I have carried all my life.”
Receiving her, Prof Isaac Kibwage described the moment as both historic and instructive. He acknowledged her as part of the institution’s living heritage—a direct link to its earliest chapters.
Her presence, he emphasized, is a reminder that education does not end at graduation. It evolves into identity, influence, and legacy.
The Vice Chancellor reiterated the university’s commitment to strengthening alumni engagement, noting that connections such as these are not symbolic—they are strategic. Alumni embody the outcomes of the institution’s mission. Their stories validate its impact.
Jane Leete’s return underscored that reality.
In a time when universities often focus on metrics—rankings, outputs, infrastructure—her visit shifted the lens. It brought attention back to people. To journeys. To the long-term imprint of education.
There was also a quiet power in her memory.
At 92, recalling her student days with such precision speaks to the depth of that experience. It suggests that what happens within university walls is not temporary. It stays. It shapes. It defines.
As she moved through the campus, there was no urgency.
Only recognition.
Familiarity layered over change.
For current students, the encounter offered something no lecture could deliver—a living example of continuity. A reminder that the years they spend in university are part of a much longer story.
One that stretches across generations.
One that, like Jane Leete’s journey, may one day bring them back home.
And for Egerton University, the visit was not simply about looking back.
It was about reaffirming what endures.
By Kurian Musa| Egerton University,Kenya
