It was a sound never heard before at a Harvey Mudd College Commencement ceremony. Shrill yet melodious music wafted into the warm air as graduates marched—in 4/4 time—toward their seats to the tunes of “The Battle of Waterloo,” “Old Rustic Bridge by the Mill,” “Lord Lovat’s Lament” and “Rowan Tree.” Leading them was Brianne Boatman ’05, mathematician and bagpipe player.

It was a fitting end for Boatman who had begun her Mudd career playing the bagpipes at the frosh talent show during orientation. “After a memorable beginning to four years, it seemed very appropriate that my pipes should also accompany me on the way out,” she said.

“I don’t think there could have been a better way to go.”

Boatman is “a little Scottish and some English,” she said, and no one else in her family plays the bagpipes. A former clarinet and fiddle player, she joined the bagpipe band at her suburban Seattle high school, which had a Highlander theme and mascot.

Her commitment to the instrument has been consistent since then, even though the bagpipe is considered one of the most complex instruments to play, tune and maintain. And, yes, it’s loud.

Boatman plays the Great Highland Bagpipe, which she describes as having a “harsher, louder sound” than the Scottish small pipes, for instance, which she also plays. Great Highland Bagpipes, developed in Scotland, are widely used by soloists and pipe bands and are played in many countries. While the instrument is lightweight, hardy lungs and a strong left arm are needed to continuously squeeze air from the bag to the pipes because there are no rests. And, pipers play some of the fastest musical notes—1/64th and 1/128th.

Boatman started out on a practice chanter, like a recorder, to practice fingerings, then moved on to the full set of bagpipes. She learned how to apply steady pressure on the bag and how to tune the drones, an intricate process that can be affected by vagaries in temperature and humidity. On Commencement day it was 90 degrees, which she was nervous about. “But the bagpipes ended up sounding OK and everything went smoothly.”

“Learning how to play a tune is not that hard, perfecting it is. It takes a very long time,” she said. “You must learn the scale— major with a flattened 7th, also known as a mixolydian scale—and the unusual thing about bagpipe music is that there are so many little embellishments or grace notes, that separate the notes. When you get familiar with all of those, then you can start putting tunes together. Once you know how to play something, then you have to get used to playing the full instrument.”

Boatman is modest about her mastery of the instrument, but admits to having won several first-place honors in various Highland games and competitions held in Seattle. She said she performs in every category, including jigs, hornpipes, strathspey, reel and Piobaireachd (pronounced pea-brock), which is classical bagpipe music. Her strongest category is the 6/8 march. The HMC Commencement, with a crowd of about 1,000, was the largest event at which she had ever performed.

In order to maintain her proficiency, Boatman practiced a few times each week during the school year and everyday when home in Seattle during summer breaks. “It’s a good thing all of our neighbors there like bagpipe music,” said Boatman.

She startled more than a few Mudders during late-night practices in Beckman and Galileo classrooms, where she had room to walk around and less chance of disturbing classmates. She also ventured into the Libra Complex sub-basement for practice one evening and caused a small panic among students in the floors above. “They said it was the weirdest sound they’d ever heard.”

She tried to get other students to join her, including an underclassmen who also plays bagpipes, but didn’t get any takers. She marched on throughout her Mudd career, lonely but committed to improving her craft.

An opportunity to study mathematics and play bagpipes came during her time abroad at University of Glasgow earlier this year, “The most amazing experience of my life,” she said.

Not only did her stay include study and travel—she celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, Ireland, and visited relatives in Wales and England—she also practiced at Glasgow’s College of Piping and, upon the advice of staff there, joined the Milngavie Pipe Band, a 10- to 20-member revolving group of pipers and drummers. She was one of only two female pipers in the band, which is not surprising, she said, since female pipers are still pretty scarce. No tryouts were necessary, only talent and a willingness to travel throughout Europe during the summer months. One of their stops was Switzerland, where they played in festivals and pubs in such places as Geneva and Evolène. Very exciting, to be sure, but not the highlight of her trip, Boatman attested.

Shortly after joining the band, she met fellow piper Cameron Francey of Dumfries, Scotland. They became acquainted during the ride to a band retreat, and were eventually inseparable. The two will wed in August at Caerlaverock, Scotland’s only three-sided castle.

Boatman plans to live in Glasgow, Scotland, for one year until Francey’s green card application is processed, then they plan to return to Seattle to live near her family. When back in the United States, she hopes to pursue her interest in the space program, an area she’d ultimately like to focus on. Francey will seek work as a software developer, his current occupation.

The couple have left the band and will instead work on their individual playing, possibly entering more competitions. Francey has been playing at least 15 years, Boatman said, but for any good piper, practice is necessary to keep both player and instrument in good condition. According to piping lore, it can take as many as seven generations before an expert piper emerges: “To the make of a piper go seven years his own learning and seven generations before.”

Boatman feels strongly that the piping tradition be passed on to future generations. The marriage of two pipers will surely increase the odds that it will.

With entrepreneurial encouragement abounding at Mudd—undergraduate courses through the Jacobs Entrepreneurship Center and programs through the Entrepreneurial Network—a fair amount of Mudders have started businesses while on campus or shortly after graduation. To have a first-year student arrive on campus already in the throes of running a thriving business is particularly exceptional.

Charlotte (Char) Genevier ’08, along with high school friend Alex Benzer (now attending the University of Redlands) created Webligo Developments, a Web-based software development company (www.webligo.com). They currently offer four products: BlogHoster, which allows organizations, groups, Web hosting companies, and colleges and universities to set up their own

Web logs (blogs); IMS Professional, an image management system that integrates with on-line auctions and communities; PHP DynaForm, a free application for adding contact and response forms to a Web site; and PHP StyleSwitcher (also free), which allows Web designers to create a variety of style sheets for Web pages that visitors can choose from.

Genevier, who is leaning toward a mathematics major, is chief developer for Webligo and manages the “back end” of the products, doing the programming and addressing the technical issues that their customers raise. Benzer, who serves as project manager, is majoring in marketing and business at Redlands and manages the business end of the company. They use a number of innovative ways to market their products—all online, of course—and the products are paid for and downloaded via the Web. They opened an office in nearby Pasadena in summer 2005, but initially developed the product and managed the company with a laptop computer and Internet connection, enabling them to work virtually anywhere.

Benzer is working with the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at Redlands to implement BlogHoster for its students. The customizable software allows users to create full-featured blog hosting services in which users can sign up, choose and edit their templates, write entries and comments, create a user profile and more. If the Redlands trial is as successful as they anticipate, Genevier hopes to share the program with Harvey Mudd College students as well. “Many Claremont Colleges students are using tools like thefacebook.com and livejournal.com to be in touch with each other,” she said. “I hope we can create a community for the 5-Cs with BlogHoster.”

Genevier, who has seriously pursued math and science since the sixth grade, became interested in software development when, at age 16, she began working for a Web design firm in her hometown of Pasadena, Calif. Since then, she has developed skills in the open-source scripting language PHP and database application MySQL, both used to develop the products Webligo offers.

Sales for BlogHoster have been brisk (more than 300 licenses at press time), in part because blogs have become increasingly popular Web tools for authors, publishers and social groups. Individuals or groups use software like BlogHoster to set up a Web site to which they add commentary based on their interests. The most recent entries appear at the top, and those who visit a blog can give feedback.

“[Blogs] began as a way for young people to keep a diary and for others to post their comments,” Genevier explained. “Our customers are generally not big companies, just people interested in setting up a community. One person set up blogforbaby.com, where people can share their experiences raising their children.” Another customer set up a blog as a way to stay in touch with his high school friends.

Genevier does on-line customer support for BlogHoster and Webligo in between classes at HMC and on the weekends. Currently, BlogHoster 1.20 is the latest version, but as Genevier said, “We’ve been racing to keep up with all the features people have been requesting and, as a result, have been releasing upgrades every few weeks. Staying on top of schoolwork is definitely a challenge, but I try to work ahead so that I don’t have to stress as much about last-minute homework assignments or tests.”

Webligo’s new free product called wFAQ allows the user to easily create “frequently asked questions” for their Web site. Soon to be released is BlogHoster Mini, which will be a free version of BlogHoster.

In typical Mudd fashion, Genevier worked non-stop, taking 18.5 units in the spring semester and managing the business, too. But, that’s OK, she said. “I wanted to be challenged.”

Frosh phenom
Interview by Justin Kim '07, additional text by Don Davidson; photo courtesy of CMS Sports

Andrew Cox ’08 was the only freshman to win an individual championship at the 2005 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships at Hope College in Holland, Mich., March 17–19.

Cox won the 50-yard freestyle final on March 17 with a time of 20:37, setting a pool record for the Holland Community Aquatic Center. He is the first swimmer from a Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) colleges team to win the 50-yard freestyle and is the 21st NCAA champion in CMS history.

A native of Bakersfield, Calif., Cox had a stellar season for CMS, being named Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) athlete of the week four times. He set the SCIAC and CMS records in the 50 freestyle this season with a mark of 20.22, and the CMS record of 45.31 in the 100 freestyle. He also won an SCIAC title in the 200 freestyle and anchored the 800 freestyle relay to a win.

He finished first in the consolation final of the 100 at the NCAA meet with a time of 45.83, a time that would have been fourth in the final. His 29 points boosted the CMS team to 24th overall in the meet.

Cox is the fourth CMS national champion in the past five years. The last Harvey Mudd College national champion was Gary Simon in 1998, who still holds the NCAA Division III record in the 200-yard individual medley.

Justin Kim ’07, staff member of the student news outlet Mudd Online, caught up with Cox between swimming and studying.

What do you do for fun at Mudd? Swim? Study? Party?

Swimming for fun, yes. Studying for fun, no. (Laughter). During the season, I just swim, sleep, study. There’s not a whole lot of time for “fun.” But that’s still fine. I enjoy swimming.

What are your best laps?

The 50 freestyle is probably my best event. I mostly swim 50, 100, 200 free. Each race has its ups and downs. The 50 is nice because you’re in and out, and you’re done. But the downside is one or two small mistakes can mess up your race. Sometimes races get down to hundredths of seconds, and that guy did one thing better than you did, and there goes your race. It’s like a crapshoot sometimes. (Laughter). The 100 free is a good race, but it feels a little long. The 200 free feels really long.

When did you start swimming?

I joined a summer league when I was four. It kept me and my siblings occupied when we didn’t have school so we wouldn’t bother my parents all day. My parents have told me, “When you were little, you always wanted to get in the pool.” I swam until I was nine, and I said, “I’ll never swim again, ever.” High school came around, and I decided to swim freshman year. I did pretty well my first two years. I really wanted to break 21 seconds on the 50 free, so my junior year, I joined a club team and started swimming all year round.

What motivates you now?

Swimming keeps me in shape. And I find that when I’m swimming, I use my free time wisely. The first week after swimming I was like, “I’m done with class. It’s one o’clock. I have nothing to do. I’m… going to take a nap.” (Laughter). Whereas, when I was swimming, I told myself, “It’s one o’clock, I need to get this done because I have practice later.” For whatever reason, swimming helps me get my work done.

You think you’ll try the Olympics in the future?

If I end up being able to qualify, I might go, but I don’t really see that happening. It’s not really a goal for me. I think right now my goal is to have fun with it all. If I’m ever not having fun anymore, I probably won’t swim. Practices can be tough and not so fun, but seeing the end result is rewarding and going to the bigger meets, like nationals, can be a fun experience.

Are your parents going to be proud of you when they read this?

(Laughter). They might. My dad might. I wouldn’t say he went to all of my meets this year. He might’ve missed one or two. It’s nice to have somebody who’s so supportive of you. Sometimes I’m like “Dad, it’s really not that big of a deal.” But I guess it is to him.