Eliana Peyton, a fifth grader at Homestead-Wakefield Elementary, was honored Monday by the Bel Air town commissioners with a student achievement award.
"She's absolutely amazing," Commissioner Susan Burdette said before reading a proclamation presented to Eliana at Monday's town meeting.
The president of the Student Council, who has a 4.0 GPA, is part of the Engineering Club, the TV studio, the Geography Club and chorus, plays flute in the school band and is a Distinguished Patriot. She was first in a Harford County piano festival, was the most valuable player in the girls basketball recreation championship game and has done gymnastics, ballet and swimming.
She was in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth and the Young Women in Science program, was first and second in the Black Youth in Action poster contest for Black History Month and was Junior Debutante in Black Youth in Action's debutante ball.
She's also been involved in the Race to Feed the Hungry through Ames United Methodist Church, the Bowl-a-thon fundraiser, the Angel Tree program, Welcome One Homeless Shelter and the Juveniles Diabetes Research Foundation Walkathon.
She also helped a student from China, who did not speak English, feel more comfortable at school using basic Mandarin and Google Translator.
She is known as an "intelligent, outgoing, well-liked person," according to the proclamation.
Burdette said she knows Eliana will do great things, and "I certainly hope you come back to Bel Air and I am sitting in the audience watching you as a town commissioner present this award."
Other news
The eighth Merry TubaChristmas is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday at the Bel Air Reckord Armory. The free concert is open to all tuba, euphonium and baritone horn players.
Hanukkah in the Park, a public menorah lighting, is scheduled for Sunday at 5 p.m. in Shamrock Park.
Commissioner Edward Hopkins commended everyone involved with the Bel Air Town Christmas Parade Dec. 7.
"It was absolutely phenomenal," Hopkins said. "The street was really abuzz."
Organizer Mike Blum told Hopkins afterward he was "extremely ecstatic" with the parade and Hopkins thanked everyone who helped put it together, including the town's police and public works departments.
Mayor Rob Reier said the parade was a "wonderful event" that continues to grow.
"It's a family event everyone looks forward to every year," Reier said.
Still under capacity
All the schools in the Bel Air town limits are still within 115 percent of their enrollment capacity, and will continue to be for the next five years, Planning Director Kevin Small told the commissioners Monday.
Because the town meets all the county's adequate public facilities thresholds, subdivision approval within the town won't be restricted.
Since the spring of 2013, development had been under a moratorium until earlier this month because of water supply issues, particularly during times of drought, but those have been worked out.
The town and Maryland American Water, which supplies water to the town, as well as the Maryland Department of the Environment, Harford County's Department of Public Works, the county Health Department and the county's Division of Water and Sewer, agreed to a $4,234 feet for new development.
The Bel Air area schools have been below the 115 percent threshold for at least the last three years, Small said.
He is required to present the Smart Growth report to the commissioners every six months. The commissioners voted, 4-0, to accept the report.