NEWS
LOOKING BACKWARD,
LOOKING FORWARD
I
’m back. I’m 71 years old, and it’s time
for my Golden Graduates’ Reunion,
2064. It has been fifty years since
I graduated. It is also just over the
centenary of Keele – 110 years since the
first graduates of the ‘community of
scholars’ processed in 1954.
This community still exists, and it is integral
to my Keele experience.
For me, this community has grown out of the
university through technology. Teaching is
now more electronic than it used to be, and
technology has also helped this community
to endure past my taught years at Keele.
A day doesn’t pass where I don’t get some
kind of notification or tweet related to Keele
come through Facebook and Twitter.
It’s not been fifty years since I last visited.
My connection with Keele has never left
me, and coming back is like an addiction.
The campus itself looks pretty similar.
It’s still as green as ever. Keele Hall still stands
proudly, used to a continual stream
of students passing through, having
pictures taken under the Freshers’ Gate,
where pictures are taken once again when
they graduate. This will never change.
Melanie Piper
English & Psychology 2014
40 | Keele University
I’m seeing everyone again. My housemates,
people on my courses, and people from the
societies I was so involved with. These people
became my family at Keele. While some
I haven’t seen since my first year, because
you can’t keep in touch with everyone, there
are others I saw only last week, last month.
Some of us car-pooled on the way over.