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Woodberry Student to Study Bagpipes in Scotland as Noland Fellow
Carlos Aguirre, a fifth-form student from Reston, VA, will be able to fuel his passion for the bagpipes in Scotland over the summer, thanks to a fellowship program established by a Woodberry alumnus to make life-changing experiences possible for the school’s students.
Carlos, who has been playing bagpipes for two-and-one-half years in Woodberry’s pipe band, will hone his skills at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, the world’s leading bagpipe school. In addition to spending time at the Centre, during which he will take individual and group lessons and attend workshops, he will travel to bagpipe festivals and competitions in the region.
“My goal is to become an excellent piper and play among the best,” Carlos says. “I started playing the pipes as a requirement to fulfill my music credit. As time went by, I became very interested in learning not only how to play the instrument, but also about its origins. I can sincerely say that now it is my passion; it is a part of my life.”
Carlos’s Scotland adventure will be made possible through the Noland Summer Fellowship program. The program is funded by Lloyd “Bud” Noland III ’62, who established it with members of his family through the Noland Memorial Foundation in honor of his father. The program provides financial support to students who wish to pursue projects requiring visits to nearby universities or Washington, D.C. for research purposes as well as those who, like Carlos, have ideas for longer-term or international ventures. To document their adventures, Noland fellows keep journals and make presentations to the student body when they return to Woodberry in the fall.
“I want to guarantee that the Noland Summer Fellowships offer truly life-changing experiences to the very best Woodberry students,” Noland says.
Competition for fellowships is fierce. Fourth- and fifth-form students identify a major summer project they wish to undertake and line up faculty sponsors to help them develop and submit proposals. The proposals are reviewed by a faculty committee led by program director and history teacher Matt Boesen. Committee members select one or two fellows each year. “Carlos’s proposal stood out from the early stages of the process as an extraordinary opportunity,” Boesen says. “It is very much the type of project we look for.”
The committee is not alone in singing Carlos’s praises. “He is the best pipe player I have ever taught at Woodberry,” says Tim Stakem, who has been Woodberry’s director of instrumental music for more than a decade. “It’s my hope that he can assist me as a pipes teacher next year.”
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Carlos, who has been playing bagpipes for two-and-one-half years in Woodberry’s pipe band, will hone his skills at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, the world’s leading bagpipe school. In addition to spending time at the Centre, during which he will take individual and group lessons and attend workshops, he will travel to bagpipe festivals and competitions in the region.
“My goal is to become an excellent piper and play among the best,” Carlos says. “I started playing the pipes as a requirement to fulfill my music credit. As time went by, I became very interested in learning not only how to play the instrument, but also about its origins. I can sincerely say that now it is my passion; it is a part of my life.”
Carlos’s Scotland adventure will be made possible through the Noland Summer Fellowship program. The program is funded by Lloyd “Bud” Noland III ’62, who established it with members of his family through the Noland Memorial Foundation in honor of his father. The program provides financial support to students who wish to pursue projects requiring visits to nearby universities or Washington, D.C. for research purposes as well as those who, like Carlos, have ideas for longer-term or international ventures. To document their adventures, Noland fellows keep journals and make presentations to the student body when they return to Woodberry in the fall.
“I want to guarantee that the Noland Summer Fellowships offer truly life-changing experiences to the very best Woodberry students,” Noland says.
Competition for fellowships is fierce. Fourth- and fifth-form students identify a major summer project they wish to undertake and line up faculty sponsors to help them develop and submit proposals. The proposals are reviewed by a faculty committee led by program director and history teacher Matt Boesen. Committee members select one or two fellows each year. “Carlos’s proposal stood out from the early stages of the process as an extraordinary opportunity,” Boesen says. “It is very much the type of project we look for.”
The committee is not alone in singing Carlos’s praises. “He is the best pipe player I have ever taught at Woodberry,” says Tim Stakem, who has been Woodberry’s director of instrumental music for more than a decade. “It’s my hope that he can assist me as a pipes teacher next year.”
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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