By Sandra Lee
Over the next few months, we will be featuring our Rover Scouts on social media (Facebook and Instagram) to showcase the results of our program. To start, we’ve chosen our most recent PERSIST Award winner, Vincent Yang.
Vincent, you’ve been with us for 6 years now. What made you join Scouts and what made you stay?
To be honest, I joined Scouts because I was growing tired of my old youth development group. There was barely anything left for me to hang onto, so I had to find something else. Crew was full of potential, and I was looking for something new. So far, it has yet to disappoint.
My first experience in Scouts was actually before I joined Rovers, and it was pretty fun. I met one of our Rovers there too actually, Jae-hui Song, who was a Venturer Scout then. I was participating in a joint camp with Girl Guides. Every outdoor team I led was notorious for overpacking food. Since then, I joined the Scouting Movement and never looked back.
That’s funny! I guess it’s one of those things that you can’t full-heartedly complain about. Well, how about your time within the Crew?
During my time with the Rover Crew, I tried some different things. I was in a lot of different departments throughout the 6 years: Recruitment, New Rovers, Fundraising, and now, Scout Group Support and in the planning team for our next International Service Project to Taiwan. Most recently, I was on the team in charge of the Scouts Canada Out There Contest.
Since the Contest was most recent, let’s talk about that. What was it like being a part of such a long project that required so much teamwork?
My team was very interesting because we never met in person for the project duration, but we did have lots of conference calls. There weren’t many bottlenecks within the team because whenever a person was unable to complete a task at the time required, the other members would step up to fill the void. Our team was able to complete all the tasks and met all the deadlines because of our team synergy and efficiency. Also due to proper time management, not only were we passive to our data collection, we were reactive if anything dramatic happens. All the required necessary skills for the job were there. For any missing skills, new skills were learned.
Would you say your personality translates to other parts of your life? We are a leadership development group. What do you do outside of Scouting?
I’m the supervisor for two jobs. I would say I’m pretty well respected, but that’s also because I know to put my team first –even to do little things like always make sure they have their breaks before I do. I would like to say that I know how to take care of my team.
You also recently won the PERSIST award. Which value of PERSIST do you relate to the most?
I think it would be the 8th one: Persistence. The drive is to follow the Scouting Principles and the Crew Values –to do our best and PERSIST. It was not to impress others about how long I can stay focused, but to prove what is right and what is wrong.
This is also a reason why I joined and am still with the Rover Crew. I wanted to find a rewarding network of people that will keep me motivated. This is something that I believe: if you want to be a certain type of person, surround yourself with these types of people. I wanted to be around people who show dedication and results. I found these people in the 180th.