Palmetto High School senior Scott Simmons plays the bagpipes. For someone who has only been playing a couple of years, he’s a terrific bagpiper. He’s so good, he’s ranked tenth by the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association.
“I love it so much. It’s just the greatest,” he says.
Playing bagpipes is not considered a thing that young people do. In fact, he’s one of the few bagpipers in Miami younger than 50 years old.
Why is a teen playing bagpipes? Believe it or not, it has to do with a movie.
“I watched Braveheart in ninth grade, for extra credit in AP World History,” he says. “All my friends and I became obsessed with Scottish culture and I took it a step further.”
Now, Simmons is in a band called Harp and Thistle Pipe Band with people from Naples and Ft. Lauderdale.
“We meet on Alligator Alley on weekends,” he says. “We meet at rest stops. Whenever we play, it draws a really big crowd.”
Simmons takes private lessons from two teachers, over Skype. One of his teachers is Jack Lee, who is ranked among the top ten bagpipers in the world.
His obsession with all things Scottish has led him to create his own business, Piper of Pinecrest. He’s available for hire to play bagpipes at special occasions.
Simmons does have an innate love of music. He used to play the sax and clarinet. Now he is a bagpiper but also plays guitar, piano and drums. He admits to being a natural musician.
Lest you think that music is Simmons’ only talent, he’s also a top-notch organizer and project manager. His Boy Scout Eagle project refurbished sections of the Good Hope Equestrian Center, which provides horseback activities for people with mental and physical disabilities.
He directed more than 80 volunteers who contributed 693 man hours. The project beautified the club and facility, renovated the main horse path by lining it with railroad ties and mulching the path, building a chicken brooder box, refurbishing the chicken coop, building an above ground planter for sunflowers and butterfly plants, planting a vegetable garden, and raising a new American Flag.
The project cost more than $3,500 and his fundraising was so efficient that after paying the bills he donated more than $2,000 in remaining funds to the equestrian center.
In Scouts, he’s a Junior Assistant Scoutmaster and former Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 457.
Simmons has more than a thousand hours in community service. He earned those hours though volunteering at numerous Eagle Scout projects and volunteering at summer camps at the Deering Estate and A.D. Barnes Park.
At Deering, he was the First Aid Kit coordinator and a counselor in training. He checked all the first aid kits to make sure they were up to date. At A.D. Barnes Park, he was a counselor in training.
“I volunteered with the kids themselves,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun.”
At Palmetto, he’s a member of the National Honor Society, the Science National Honor Society, the Social Science Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, Interact, Key Club, Amnesty International, Model United Nations and Debate.
This school year he plans to compete in Envirothon and History Bowl. He’s the secretary of the Debate Club. He competes in the public forum debate category.
In college, he plans to major in mechanical engineering. His top schools are the University of Florida, Florida State University, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
