National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) is an intense week long leadership training class for youth.
We are fortunate that our Council has a strong NYLT program, offering four weeks of classes for Scouts BSA in both a traditional “land based” format and a “pack and paddle” format. For the pack and paddle, they spend three days going from one campsite to another by canoe and the other three days backpacking. The course materials are taught on the trail along the way. This year they are even offering a coed pack and paddle option for Venturers.
Both JD and DS have been to NYLT. In addition, DS served on staff for one of the weeks last summer. They both thought it was a great experience. JD did the land based program and DS did a pack and paddle program. Both came back with a lot of new information about how the patrol method should work, how to teach skills to younger Scouts, and how to lead.
If your troop is not taking advantage of this program, I strongly encourage you to look into it. Our troop tries to send at least two Scouts every year. It is a big budget expense for us, but it pays off in the long run. Usually we send 13 or 14 year olds. The Scouts you send to NYLT need to be mature enough to work cooperatively with a group of other youth they didn’t previously know.