Tribute | Peterson

He oft tilted his head and rolled his eyes in quick succession. He followed this up by spreading out his arms in an apparent simulation of the rolling and yawing aerodynamic concepts during our A-level Physics discussions.

He then went on to ape our teacher's tone and gesticulation, curving out a mini-spectacle that, for some of us, eternally got etched in memory.

The topic had been taught months earlier, delivered in a trademark style by a teacher students nicknamed "Cartesian" many years before us.

It’s a memory that still springs to mind at take-off, every time I fly.

Try and compete we did, seldom winning academic battles in selected subjects bar Physics and Chemistry. Many a time, we settled for a serial bridesmaids’ role to a guy who had started out at little-known Bishop Ogez High School before heading to Ntare School.

I still remember going into my final UACE Physics II exam and seeing one of such questions. Mental images of his repeated gesticulation in our earlier discussions suddenly sprang to mind before I let slip a wide grin.

I wanted to hug the questionnaire.

I almost got off my seat for a couple of ecstatic press-ups before I remembered I was under the watchful eye of our exam invigilator. It was no surprise when the results came out and I had scored a distinction in the paper.

This and many others are some of my earliest recollections of the guy who, today, basks in the glory of academic nirvana, having graduated with a first class degree in Law.

It was the only first class Law degree the University was seeing since 2006.

Christened Lord Denning, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein by sections of euphoric peers, mentees and acquaintances on social media, Peterson’s academic resume now reads like a career academician’s ultimate wish-list: A first-class degree in Electrical Engineering, a first-class degree in Law, a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and an on-going PhD in the same.

Beat that, if you will. You’ll certainly have an Everest of a mountain to climb if you dare to dream.

Yes, I studied with a legend.