With seniors Will McBain and Daniella Mohazab retiring from the Piedmont Boy Scouts of America (BSA) executive board, the council has selected junior Hayden Payne and Bishop O’Dowd junior Eric Liu to serve as the new youth members on the board.

Vice President of Venturing Ken Li said McBain and Mohazab were greatly appreciated by the adult board members and that each of them took on projects and tasks that allowed them to hopefully, feel a sense of tangible achievement and pride now that their terms have ended.

McBain said he loved learning the inner workings of the entire council regarding areas like the budget, membership, and fundraising.

“I learned how formal meetings operate with adults and how to add to the discussion,” McBain said. “I also enjoyed working on the membership policy regarding LGBT scouts, offering my own input on the issue.”

At the BSA’s Annual Business Meeting on March 19, McBain and Mohazab officially retired from their positions, and Payne and Liu were welcomed onto the board. Li helped to facilitate this term’s selection process by first requesting nominations from leaders of units with high school aged members.

“The selection of board members [involved] a process of identifying candidates that add valuable talent and skills in order for the board to have a balanced set of capabilities, interests, as well as good representation of our ‘market,’ our youth, and a diverse set of personal perspectives,” Li said.

After interviewing and explaining the youth board member role to nominees, Li recommended candidates to Council President Wes Smith, who made the final decision.

“There were a variety of factors involved in the final selection, but the commitment to leadership each had made within scouting was a major element in their selection,” Smith said.

Li said youth members add a fresh viewpoint because they come from within their market population.

“By generally seeking a boy and a girl, we tend to represent the traditional program (Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts), as well as the non-traditional programs (Venturing, Exploring, Sea Scouts, etc.),” Li said.

Smith said they generally choose members who are sophomores or older because they have had time to gain experience and composure.

“We’re looking for youth members who have distinguished themselves in some way in the scouting program, which our exiting members and new members have done,” Smith said. “That they’ve shown leadership, and that they seem to have the capacity to contribute to the board – that they won’t be spectators, but that they’ll be participants.”

Payne was the President of the Venturing Officers Association, a member of High Adventure Crew, and is currently the Vice President of Administration for the Piedmont Community Service Crew. She said she was interested in serving as a board member because she wanted to promote the youth, venturing, and female perspectives in the council.

“I’m going to help make decisions and have discussions with all the other board members about issues in scouting, and also report on the venturing program on what we’re doing,” Payne said. “I’ll probably also join a committee, like the marketing committee, to do like the same thing, like discuss issues and work on goals.”

McBain said his advice to the new youth board members would be to participate in the discussions as much as possible, even though the adults may seem intimidating or the conversation might be confusing.

Executive Director Josephine Pegrum Hazelett said youth members keep the rest of the board in touch with their purpose – to serve the youth of the community with relevant programs that teach leadership skills and civic values.

“A lot of people on the board are no longer active, or have never been active, with units,” Smith said. “I have very little contact with what goes on in units anymore, so having the youth there, they can keep you up with what the youth are thinking. I think it’s a very important voice.”

Li said youth board members have the same duties as adult board members.

“They are given the same respect and voting authority, “ Li said. “We shift the emphasis or expectations to allow for their relative inexperience.”

Payne said she likes how being a part of BSA gives her the opportunity to meet new people and try a variety of things.

“I like the values they represent – morality, intelligence, and physicality,” Payne said. “Those are all good things to strive for – like being a good person, but also stretching yourself and challenging yourself. I think that’s what Boy Scouts is all about.”