Hello Arrowmen!

I’m excited to serve as your 2012-2013 Section Chief! It is an honor, and I will not disappoint you! While my leadership team and I prepare the upcoming conclave, I have taken some time to share with you a little bit about myself:

I’ve been scouting for eight years now, and have been involved in the Order of the Arrow for four of those years. In that time, I have spent a lot nights outdoors, have learned a lot of new skills, and have met lots of awesome scouts and scouters!

In the outdoors, I enjoy backpacking outings and hikes. I specialized in backpacking and pioneering, serving as a troop instructor for both, and now as a merit badge councilor for both. I enjoy the outdoors so much, I always tried to attend every troop outing! I have climbed Half Dome, backpacked through San Francisco, canoed along the Sacramento River, hiked part of the Pacific Crest trail at over 10,000 feet elevation, snow camped in the Sierra Nevada, and much more!

In my troop, I have held almost every job on the PLC. One of my favorite memories is serving as a patrol leader for the first time at the local Camporee, where my patrol got 2^nd place in pioneering! That seems like so long ago now that I am serving as Section Chief! I continued to be active in troop leadership until I turned 18, shortly after which I attained the rank of Eagle Scout.

I also did a lot of scouting beyond the troop outside of the OA. My focus was in training and staffing family/cub events. I served on the council Den Chief training staff for four years, and the council NYLT staff for two. To this day I serve as a part of the family camp staff at Wente, and I help out with local Cub Scout day camps whenever I can.

I completed my ordeal at Camp Linblad in August of 2008, and earned my Brotherhood at Conclave in September 2009. At first I was inactive in the OA, until I attended my first Lodge Fellowship. There I was inspired to run for chapter chief. When I did become chapter chief, I learned how to plan events, and ran a district-wide camporee. A few months later, I was elected to Lodge Chief, and served a year working to establish better-run LEC meetings and to improve Ordeal planning and LLD (Lodge Leadership Development). While not all of my projects were successful, I did learn a lot about goal-setting and backdating! I was honored to receive the Founders Award at the conclusion of my term.

I was introduced to the Section as an Assistant CVC (Conclave Vice Chief) for Shows. From there, I was elected as the Section Secretary, and spent the year improving the section’s documents and communication amongst the Council of Chiefs. I did so for a year, ending at this past Conclave, where I was elected as Section Chief. And that brings us to now!

While I unfortunately do not get out into the backcountry outdoors as much as I used to, I still remain very active in scouting, and now travel a lot more. I have visited thirteen states in my travels with scouting, and have learned a lot about project management, team development, and goal setting along the way. I am looking forward to continuing that throughout this year, as I now work with the rest of the section leadership in order to plan and bring to you an exciting, and completely rethought out Conclave!

WWW,

Michael Kintscher

Section Chief