Robert “Bob” D. Quarello received the National Advisor of the Year Award at the National Law Enforcement Exploring Conference last week in Atlanta, GA. The award was presented during the Conference Opening Ceremony by the Administrator for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Michele Leonhart. Sadly, Bob unexpectedly passed away on June 28, 2010. His wife, Jane, and daughter, Meredith, accepted the award on his behalf.

The Advisor of the Year Award is given to an individual who goes above and beyond the expectations of an Exploring advisor. Bob had been involved with Exploring for over 40 years, starting as a Law Enforcement Explorer himself. Over the course of his career Bob was instrumental in starting Exploring Posts with four different Police Departments throughout Central Illinois. At the time of his passing Bob was the acting Advisor for the Minier Police Department Exploring program where his daughter is an active Explorer.

Through the course of his career as a Police Officer as well as an Exploring Advisor, Bob has mentored hundreds of youth and led 14 of them into a career in Law Enforcement at the local, state and federal levels.

Exploring is a career education program for young men and women age 14-21 years old. Through the program youth gain hands on experience in a career field of their interest. The W. D. Boyce Council Exploring program currently serves 603 youth throughout 14 Central Illinois Counties. Exploring is an affiliate program of the Boy Scouts of America.