National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT)
National Youth Leadership Training is an exciting, action-packed program designed to provide all 13- to 20-year-old youth members of the Boy Scouts of America 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 a leader must KNOW, and what a leader 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 where content is delivered in person and in an 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 mnemonics (memory aids), which allows participants to understand and more readily employ the leadership skills they have learned.
The leadership modules include: Communicating, Finding Your Vision, Setting Your Goals, Planning, Solving Problems, Developing Your Team, Servant Leadership, Scouting EDGE, Leading Yourself, Ethics and Values in Decision Making, Diversity and Valuing People, Resolving Conflicts, Embracing and Leading Change, and Resilience.
The skills of visualizing success, setting goals to accomplish that vision, and developing a plan to get there are core to the leader’s role. Other key course elements include leading yourself, communicating, developing a patrol, applying a leadership style that fits the patrol’s stage of development, and teaching skills to others. Sessions on problem-solving, making ethical decisions, and valuing people are added as elements of a leader’s toolbox.
The course schedule parallels the program month of a typical Scouting unit. Throughout the week, the Scoutmaster models their role in delivering that program in a youth-led, adult-guided unit.
The NYLT syllabus integrates the best of modern leadership theory with the traditional strengths of the Scouting experience. Through activities providing hands-on, experiential learning; presentations; challenges; discussions; and audiovisual support, NYLT participants will be engaged in developing leadership that will give them the skills and confidence to lead well. Through a wide range of activities, events, games, and adventures, NYLT participants will work and play together as they put into action the best that Scouting has to offer.
NYLT Linked Boy and Girl Troops
In Scouts BSA, troops are either all boy or all girl, never coed. Linked troops are an option within the Scouts BSA program, and this is the model that NYLT will use. An NYLT program serving both male and female participants must have its own youth and adult leadership structure, including two-deep leadership for each troop.
For example, an NYLT course with 42 male participants and 6 female participants will be conducted as two linked troops. Each linked troop must have its own gender specific SPL and Troop Guides, as well as two 21+ adult leaders (SM and ASM) - at least one must be the same gender as the linked troop they are supporting. If we have a smaller number of female participants, there is a minimum of 2 girls on the course. There will be no coed patrols.
NYLT Participant and Age Requirements - There can be no exceptions.
To attend an NYLT course, a youth shall 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 (male and female) must be 13 years of age and fall within the maximum age allowance for their program registration. They must be ranked a First Class Scout or higher and have completed Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops.
- 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.
- A unit leader recommendation. Therefore, registrations must be done on a Unit Tentaroo Account and not an Individual's Tentaroo Account.
2024 Cost
$500.00 through May
$550.00 starting June 1
$600.00 starting July 1
There are no multiple week or sibling discounts for NYLT, but Campership financial assistance may be awarded.