A Day in the life: Jack O'Neil
From attending national, regional and section events, performing service in the backcountry at Philmont and Northern Tier to meeting the President of the United States, our national chief's first seven months have been truly exciting.
Although Jack O'Neill might not be saving the world traveling through Stargates like the character Jack O'Neill, he certainly has his own share of amazing experiences. His is an Eagle Scout, and Vigil Honor member from Shawnee Lodge (Greater St. Louis Area Council). He was a two-term chief of Section C-5C and at the last National Planning Meeting was elected to the office of national chief for 2009 by his fellow section chiefs from around the country. The office of national chief is an incredible responsibility and honor. He starts his day like any other modern day super hero, with a bowl of his favorite cereal, Magically Delicious Lucky Charms. He then heads off to school like any typical college student. After school he can be found hanging out with friends and playing tennis or baseball. Of course he has one other "hobby" that occupies quite a bit of his time; Jack has the top youth spot in the largest youth organization in the world. You might think the national chief does nothing but give speeches at NOAC and gets to shake the President of the Unites State's hand but the job involves so much more than that.
Before becoming National Chief, Jack had never visited Washington D.C, our nation's capital. But within his first two months in office he traveled to Washington, D.C. twice. The first time was to help the National Capital Area Council and their Order of the Arrow lodge, Amangamek Wipit with their duties at President Barrack Obama's inauguration. They worked nearly ten hours that day completing tasks including distributing U.S. flags and providing directions to the nearly 2,000,000 visitors that crowded the National Mall to watch President Obama take the oath of office. At the end of February, Jack made another five-day trip back to Washington, D.C. to deliver the Boy Scouts of America's annual report to the nation. His report was made to many of the nation's top leaders including President Obama.
Jack also travels around the country attending National Leadership Seminars (NLS), Section Officers Seminars (SOS), and many Section Conclaves. In May, Jack, Dan Higham, the National Vice Chief, and the four region chiefs also attended the BSA National Planning Meeting. You might think with all his travels, Jack wouldn't have time for anything else but he did complete a two weeklong stay at Philmont with the Order of the Arrow Trail Crew. He spent one week working to improve trails and the other out hiking the backcountry with his crew. With only one day spent at his home in St. Louis, he headed to Minnesota for the Order of the Arrow Wilderness Voyage at Northern Tier High Adventure Base.
Jack and the rest of the National Order of the Arrow committee have certainly done a tremendous amount of work preparing for this year's NOAC.
After his election, Jack said he was, "overwhelmed with joy and excitement." His joy and his love for scouting have shown through all of his actions as National Chief. This is only a brief re-cap of the many incredible things Jack has done in his last eight months as our National Chief and we're all anxious to see what he does during the next four months.
Revised 08/01/2009