Senior Elaine Qian is being honored The William Peterson Award at the Boy Scouts of America Annual Recognition Dinner at the Piedmont Community Church, on April 24.

Founder and Crew Advisor of Piedmont Community Service Crew (PCSC) Kenneth Li said the William Peterson Award was created many years ago to honor the late Bill Peterson and is awarded by a panel of adults to a Piedmont Boy Scout youth who has displayed leadership and dedication to their trip and crew.

“The purpose of this award is to recognize a Piedmont Council youth who, through their leadership, demonstrates the benefits of Scouting being in a youth run organization,” Li said.

Li said that the Troop and Crew adult leaders are invited to nominate youth who stand out as leaders and exemplify the spirit of the award. A selection committee is formed with representatives from each Troop and Crew and chooses a member.

“The nominees are generally a really stellar group of youth who worked really hard at their roles as leaders within their Troop or Crew, and sometimes in other activities and groups that they belong to,” Li said.

Li said that Qian is the perfect recipient of this award because she did not overtly want to get it but her passion about her Crew motivates others.

“One of the main goals of our [Boy Scouts of America] programs is to nurture leadership in our youth, to create our future leaders,” Li said. “I feel that leadership is a life skill which is at least as important as the academics that you teens focus on at school, and those leadership skills contribute to one’s long term success more significantly than many of the academic facts that are typically the focus of our teens.”

Venturing is a Boy Scout program that is known as a non-traditional program because both and boys and girls can participate. Qian joined PCSC her freshman year without knowing it was a community service focused Venture Crew.

“My friend encouraged me to try out the Alameda Food Bank event with her one Saturday and I found I really enjoyed it,” Qian said. “I slowly got more involved by going to events almost every weekend.”

When Qian was a sophomore she was the Treasurer of her crew and by junior year she became Vice President of Programs. Currently, in her senior year, she is the President of her crew.

“I continued for multiple reasons, one being that I found the events to be extremely fulfilling, especially events where I got to interact with the people we were helping out,” Qian said.

Qian said that she did not become involved with the Boy Scout aspect of PCSC until later in high school when she started attending more Boy Scout events, such as volunteering at the Cub Scout Day Camp and going to the National Youth Leadership Training.

“I used to be terrible at public speaking, but PCSC has helped me a lot with that,” Qian said. “I wouldn’t say I’m any good at public speaking now, but I can at least talk to groups of 70 or more people with confidence.”

Qian said she really likes working at St. Mary’s Center, where they plan, cook and serve a meal to 50 homeless seniors.

“[A] homeless man [gobbled] up the food that [we] cooked, knowing that it [was] probably going to be the only meal he [had] that day,” Qian said.

Qian said she has had a great experience with Rebuilding Together Oakland, where she helps renovate low-income senior’s homes.

“[This] sweet old lady from Rebuild ing Together Oakland [couldn’t] stop thanking [me] for building a porch and ramp in her backyard so her bed-ridden husband can finally be wheeled outside,” Qian said.

Qian hopes to still be active in Venturing after she graduates high school.

“After I graduate I’ll possibly [help] mentor other students in PCSC or [start] my own Venture Crew in college,” Qian said. “I’m eligible to be a Venturer until I’m 21, so I’m definitely going to take advantage of that.”

Qian said she enjoys proving herself and at the National Youth Leadership Training there were 80 Boy Scouts and she was one of three girls. She is currently working toward her Silver Award, which is the Venturing equivalent to an Eagle Scout Award.

“I think there are a lot of people in PCSC who deserve more recognition for all the work that they do to keep us running smoothly,” Qian said.

Qian encourages students to get involved in clubs and organizations outside of Piedmont High School.

“I also particularly enjoyed getting to know some awesome upperclassmen through PCSC,” Qian said.