Rift Valley Academy sits on a forested hillside at Kiambogo in Kijabe, Kiambu County, where it was founded by American missionary Charles Hurtburt.
The motive was the result of a dilemma. He could either ship his two children for education in England or abandon his missionary calling. He chose to keep both by establishing a school for them with Josephine Hope as the first teacher.
But the start was not so rosy.
Hurtburt had trailed the railway line from Machakos to Naivasha, looking for a suitable place to establish a mission centre. But on reaching Naivasha, he found that Lord Delamere had been given a 99-year lease at night, writes Phil Dow in his 2003 book, School in the Clouds: The Rift Valley Academy Story.
Delamere argued that missionary work would be a waste of land ideal for dairy farming!
Hurlburt settled for Olkijabe (hills of the cold wind in Maasai) as it was malaria-free and near the railroad. Rift Valley Academy was established in 1906 in a rudimentary structure with 10 students by the African Inland Mission. American President Teddy Roosevelt, on a hunting trip to Africa, laid the corner stone of the main building in 1909.
RVA has since been a melting of spiritual vibrancy and academic excellence, becoming the first school in Africa to receive American accreditation in 1967. Miss Muriel Perrott introduced rugby and its prowess has seen it win the Prescott Cup back to back from 1980 to 1990.
Notable alumni who shot kongoni (gnu or wildebeest) for school meat include Major General Scott Gration, former US Ambassador to Kenya and his wife Judy DeYoung.
Herb Downing, the school’s second principal introduced ‘Rendezvous’ or ‘Mutton Guz’ in 1933. This was a party to reward well-behaved students over the term Tim Cook was also a principal at the school.
The late Phillip Keller was a range management and consultant to the Government of Kenya and author of A Shepherd Looks at Psalms 23. Others include John Armes, Elmendorf Air Force Alaska, Gerald May and Dean of Faculty of Engineering at the University of New Mexico.
Among those still guided by the school motto Omnes Christo is Michael Sozi, a rugby player in the team that won the Prescott Cup in 1983. Others who slept in Nyati, Suswa, Kedong, Davis and Titchie dorms include Erick Hersman and rugby player Dave Mshila.
