National Youth Leadership Training

 

Leadership That Lasts a Lifetime

NYLT is a six-day advanced leadership course designed to teach Scouts the tools, techniques, and skills they need to be better leaders – not only in their units, but also at home, in school, and in their daily lives. Led by an exemplary, highly-trained youth staff, NYLT participants work hard and play hard together through group activities, games, and adventures as they experience Scouting at its best.
What is NYLT?

National Youth Leadership Training is an exciting, action-packed program designed for councils to provide youth members with leadership skills and experience they can use in their home units and in other situations demanding leadership of self and others.

The NYLT course centers around the concepts of what a leader must BE, what he must KNOW, and what he must DO. The key elements are then taught with a clear focus on HOW TO. The skills come alive during the week as the patrol goes on a Quest for the Meaning of Leadership.

NYLT is a six-day course. Content is delivered in a troop and patrol outdoor setting with an emphasis on immediate application of learning in a fun environment. Interconnecting concepts and work processes are introduced early, built upon, and aided by the use of memory aids, which allows participants to understand and employ the leadership skills much faster.

Built on the legacy of past JLT successes, the new NYLT integrates the best of modern leadership theory with the traditional strengths of the Scouting experience. Through activities, presentations, challenges, discussions, and audio-visual support, NYLT participants will be engaged in a unified approach to leadership that will give them the skill and confidence to lead well. Through a wide range of activities, games, and adventures, participants will work and play together as they put into action the best Scouting has to offer.

Winter 2024 NYLT Staff Interviews - May 19th & 25th

Why attend National Youth Leadership Training?

In your Scouting career, you will get many opportunities to lead your fellow Scouts through activities, projects, and outings as you advance. How can you make sure you have the skills you need to lead them to success? NYLT can teach you what you will need to become a better leader. At NYLT, you will learn how to communicate effectively, how to resolve conflicts, and how to work towards a vision. You will work as part of a patrol with your fellow participants, practicing your Scouting skills and growing together as a team. And you will have fun along the way, with games and interactive activities that reinforce different leadership techniques. NYLT is staffed by Scouts like yourself who have gone through the program and spent months in preparation to teach the course. They will guide you and your patrol through your six days at NYLT, and they make sure that NYLT is not just about teaching you leadership skills, but about giving you a leadership experience that you will never forget. You will be able to take home Scout skills, games, songs, and practices that will make your unit even better. And you might even find that your six days at NYLT is a time of self-discovery, as you set a personal vision and learn how to set goals to fulfill it.
National Youth Leadership Training will bring new skills and greater enthusiasm to your youth leadership. Scouting recognizes that unit leaders have primary responsibility for training their youth leaders. NYLT is designed to support that role by helping Scouts develop critical leadership skills such as setting goals, communicating with others, and team development. Using the Patrol Method as a framework for teaching, an NYLT course is not only ideal for training youth leaders at every level, but it can also be a valuable experience for older Scouts and Venturers. NYLT is taught, run, and organized entirely by a highly trained team of youth Scouts, who not only attended NYLT as participants but also invest more than 300 hours in preparation to deliver each course and make it fun. They will not only teach your youth effective leadership skills, but they serve as an example of what NYLT practices look like in action. Our curriculum aligns our youth leadership training with the adult training offered by Wood Badge, and NYLT is part of the cycle of leadership that starts with ILST and continues with NAYLE.
NYLT teaches leadership skills that will help your child form stronger interpersonal relationships and make better decisions throughout their lives. While this is certainly a Scouting program, the leadership skills your Scout will learn will enhance their life in so many ways outside of the Scouting world. NYLT will give them the confidence to take on anything – at school, at home, or wherever life takes them. What NYLT requires of your Scout is openness to learning these skills and the maturity to accept them. The course is taught by talented, resolute youth leaders who prepare for six months and serve as an example of what NYLT leadership looks like in action. The outdoor environment provides the backdrop for a mix of presentations, games, and learning activities geared towards Scouts while still having fun.

Event Flyer

Frequently Asked Questions

Scouts and Venturers can attend NYLT if they meet these nationally-mandated requirements before the start of the course.

Scouts BSA
  • Age 13 or older
  • At least First Class rank
  • Attended Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops (ILST)
Venturing/Sea Scouts
  • Age 14 or be age 13 and have completed the 8th grade
  • Attended ILSC/ILSS

Please only send Scouts/Venturers/Sea Scouts considered mature enough so that they can come back to your unit and fulfill a meaningful leadership position.

Please do not send youth that do not have any week-long camp experience, youth that are not interested in attending, nor troublemakers in hopes that NYLT will fix him/her in a week.

In order to attend a NYLT course, a youth must have the following qualifications by the beginning of the course:

  • Must be a registered member of a Scouting unit.
  • Must have a current BSA Health and Medical Record form parts A, B, and C.
  • Scouts BSA members (male and female) must be at least 13.
  • They must have completed Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops.
  • Boys and girls registered in Scouts BSA will be required to earn the First Class rank before attending NYLT. Venturers and Sea Scouts (male and female) must be at least 14, or 13 and have completed eighth grade, and fall within the maximum age allowance for their program.
  • They must have completed Introduction to Leadership Skills for Crews or Ships.

It is recommended that they have had at least one year of camping experience. While NYLT is not an outdoor skills course, it is important that each participant have basic camping and outdoor cooking experience. Have a unit leader recommendation.

If a Scout does not meet these requirements at the beginning of the course, they will be unable to participate in NYLT.

All refund requests must be received NO LATER THAN FIVE DAYS after the event is completed. Requests received after this time will not be processed.

Requests for refund made:

  • Two weeks or more before event = 85% Refund
  • Less than two weeks and until event = 60% Refund
  • Up to five days after the event = 40% Refund
  • Six or more days after the event = No Refund

Reasons for requesting a refund:

  • Serious illness or injury preventing attendance
  • Death in family preventing attendance
  • The event or activity is cancelled or rescheduled
  • Family Emergency

The NYLT staff recruits youth graduates of NYLT twice per year to serve on the staff of future NYLT courses. The summer session generally holds staff interviews in November or December of each year, while the winter session generally interviews potential youth staff in March or April of each year.

Staff have the opportunity to live NYLT course content rather than just learn it. Many staff members call this the NYLT 2.0 experience and often come back year after year. During five staff development weekends, youth will be challenged to learn and do things they didn’t think possible. Youth will learn what it takes to organize an NYLT course and to give presentations to patrol size groups and larger groups as troop guide, or they could be involved in the logistics side of the course as a quartermaster. Many youth who serve on the staff on an NYLT course continue to come back for several courses, simply because they have a blast as staff members. We challenge any youth graduates to come to one or both of our interview days.

Staff Application

 

 

Where is NYLT held? Summer and Winter sessions are held at St. Johns River Base, located at 2513 Doctors Lake Drive, Orange Park, FL 32073.

What’s this I hear about a special gold patch?
During the NYLT course week, each participant is encouraged to create a vision containing several goals that takes 2-10 months to complete. This vision has the purpose of helping participants grow as leaders, typically through service to their unit or to the local community. Once this vision is approved by the NYLT course leadership, youth are encouraged to return home and bring their vision to life. Once the vision has been completed and a unit leader has signed off on it, the youth can contact us to be mailed their gold-bordered vision-completion patch.

However, completion of the vision challenge is not required to complete the NYLT program. All youth who successfully complete the course week are NYLT graduates and have fully finished the course.
If you have any questions about the vision challenge, please reach out to the contact emails above.

Cost
$325.00 per participant

This cost includes all meals, camping, a patch, T-shirt, and activity expenses.

 

Early Discount
Before 11/17/24, a discount of $25.00 will apply.

Winter Session 2024
Dec 26-31, 2024

REGISTER NOW

File Name Description
Medical Forms(parts A, B, and C) All parts are required to attend Course Download
Participant Code Of Conduct All Participants must complete prior to the start of each course! Download
St. John's River Base Map Download
What to Bring Winter NYLT Download
Winter NYLT Flyer Download