More Than 100 Pipers and Drummers Compete on Campus

College hosts its first Scottish Games

WOOSTER, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2012 – You could say they made their presence known. Approximately 125 bagpipers and drummers gathered on campus last weekend to compete in the Eastern U.S. Pipe Band Association’s competition. Organized by student members of the Scot Pipers, the event represented the first time the College has hosted such a competition, or Scottish Games.  

The purpose of hosting the competition, said Andrew Donlon ’14, lead piper of the Wooster pipe band, was unabashed recruitment of talented pipers. “Many other schools have piping programs, but they recruit more than we do. What better way to get pipers to come to school here than to get them on campus and see how awesome it is. That’s what brought me here!”  

A perfect golden fall day, combined with great organization insured that the event was a success, said Ned Brooks, assistant director of the Scot Band. “It was a warm, fruitful, and productive day. Everything went like clockwork; it was just remarkable.”  

Donlon, a bagpipe music major, won second in the Grade 1 solo competition. Grade 1 is the highest level in the amateur piping hierarchy, one step below professional. The Scots Pipers and drummers won the Grade 5 competition. Donlon’s goal for the band and the motivation behind his recruitment, is for them to be ranked consistently at a Grade 3 level.    

Donlon, Brooks, and Wooster President Grant Cornwell say they hope this is the beginning of an annual tradition. “Next year it will be bigger and better,” said Donlon.