The Chemical Educational Foundation (CEF) presented Richard “Dick” A Peacock, president of PVS-Nolwood Chemicals Inc, based in Detroit MI, with the Vanguard Award at a ceremony in Washington DC recently.
For more than a decade, CEF has presented the Vanguard Award to an individual whose leadership, commitment, and outreach efforts have helped advance the foundation's mission of fostering greater understanding of chemistry, benefits of chemicals, and importance of chemical safety awareness.
Under Peacock's leadership, PVS-Nolwood has actively promoted chemistry education in the Detroit area. The company's outreach initiatives include aiding in the development of achievement programs in local schools, adopting an inner city elementary school, and the implementation of CEF's You Be The Chemist Challenge (YBTC Challenge), an academic question-and-answer chemistry competition.
PVS-Nolwood is sponsoring YBTC Challenge sites in three suburban Detroit counties and one within the Arch Diocese of Detroit. In addition, PVS-Nolwood is helping to organize the first-ever Michigan State YBTC Challenge, and is working with its parent company, PVS Chemicals, Inc., also headquartered in Detroit, to expand the YBTC Challenge program into the Chicago (IL) Public Schools.
The company has distributed nearly 300 YBTC kits, an educational tool featuring 30 chemistry lesson plans and corresponding activities, to educators in the Detroit metropolitan area.