What is NYLT?
In Hoosier Trails Council, NYLT provides participants with the knowledge and skills required to effectively lead a troop program. Overall, participants will walk away from course with greater confidence in their ability to communicate, teach, and solve problems. Our hope is that each participant takes what they learn and applies their new skills at the troop and district level.
- The NYLT course simulates one month in the life of a joint troop within a six-day course.
- Participants are grouped together with Scouts from all over Indiana into patrols of four to six members.
- Throughout the week, each patrol develops friendships and lifelong memories as they learn how to incorporate modern ideas of leadership into their own leadership styles.
- 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.
- The youth staff mentors the participants in this process as they travel on their “Quest for the Meaning of Leadership.” Click on “NYLT Staff Opportunities” to find out why staffing takes leadership to the next level.
The NYLT course centers around the concepts of what a leader must BE, what they must KNOW, and what they must DO. The key elements are then taught with a clear focus on HOW TO. The skills come alive on course as the patrol goes on a Quest for the Meaning of Leadership.
NYLT is an exciting, action-packed program designed to provide youth members with leadership skills and experience they can use in their home troops and in other situations demanding leadership of self and others.
I’m already a youth leader. Why do I need to take NYLT training?
- NYLT is a lot of fun as both a participant and as staff!
- NYLT will build your confidence in leading others.
- NYLT will teach you about being a better leader.
- NYLT will show you what you are capable of achieving.
- NYLT will prepare you on being successful not only in scouts but in your life as well.
- NYLT takes your scouting skills to the next level.
As a Scoutmaster or Crew Advisor, why do I need all my youth leaders NYLT trained?
- To have a unit truly youth-led, they must be trained on the same leadership methodology of Scouting which has been proven to work for over 100 years. NYLT offers this.
- When all your leaders have been trained the same, it leads to higher functioning units, crews, and patrols. NYLT offers a consistent leadership method and application which significantly drops misalignment on how to lead units.
- Scoutmasters and Crew Advisors with NYLT trained youth leadership can and have transitioned more of the unit programming to the youth over a shorter period of time.
- As youth leadership takes on more responsibilities of the unit, the adult leadership takes less.
- Less unit drama. (And who doesn’t want that?)
I’m an older Scout. Isn’t NYLT for newer, younger Scouts?
- NYLT teaches leadership skills for life, not just Scouting.
- Many NYLT graduates have reported back how their NYLT training has given them an edge in life after they graduated high school.
Scouts who go through National Youth Leadership Training emerge able to better understand the patrol method, the cycles of team development, and the process of planning an outing. The skills NYLT graduates have begun to hone make them qualified to serve as a Patrol Leader, Den Guide, or even Senior Patrol Leader. However, that’s not to say NYLT graduates are done learning leadership. NYLT is the best foundation for a Scout’s leadership abilities, not the cap stone.
NYLT Participant and Age Requirements:
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 Scouting America Annual Health and Medical Record form parts A, B, and C
- Scouts BSA members 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 must be at least 14, or 13 and have completed eighth grade, and fall within the maximum age allowance for their program. 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
Additionally, Hoosier Trails Council has the following requirement for participants:
- Have a complete Scouts BSA or Crew Class A uniform
If you have a Scout that you believe to be a good candidate but has not earned the required rank, or is too young, exceptions can be made at the Course Director’s discretion. Please email the Course Director for any questions or concerns about any of these prerequisites.
When is our next course?
We are so excited to offer a continuous 6-day course in the summer.
Course dates: July 7-12, 2025
Course Participant Orientation Day: Course Participant Orientation Day will be held as a Zoom meeting this year, this is mandatory for both participants and parents to attend. We will be covering typical orientation topics such as course expectations, logistics, agendas, staff introductions and a question and answer period.
How do people get selected to be on a NYLT course staff?
- Youth staff applications are currently being accepted. Applications are available for both NEW NYLT Staff and RETURNING NYLT Staff.
- Course Director, Scoutmasters, and backup is approved by council. Offers are made and confirmed.
- SPL are found: The Course Director and Scoutmasters interview candidates for the course Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) from a pool of Scouts and Venturers. The right candidate for that year’s course are offered the position and are accepted by the candidates.
- SPL seeks out senior leadership: This is generally the senior leadership cabinet made up of the SPL and assistant senior patrol leaders (ASPLs) over specific functions for the troop. All former NYLT youth participants are eligible for consideration as youth staff. Youth must still be registered youth members in a Scouts BSA Troop or Venture Crew.
- The Course Director, Scoutmasters, SPL and ASPLs then announce a schedule for youth staff interviews. These can be either virtual or in person interviews. If you are a youth member and interested in staff, we highly encourage you to apply when we announce we are accepting staff applications or you can email the Course Director to get further information.
- The Course Director and Scoutmasters will also seek out adult staffers based upon recommendations from council and previous course staff to fill the adult staff roster. If you interested in becoming an adult staffer for our NYLT course for 2025 course, please email the Course Director with your interest or for further information.
What does it mean to be a youth staff member for a NYLT course?
- You have the best seats in town to the best youth leadership training around.
- You are in the drivers seat, taking your leadership skills learned during your participant year and putting them to work as staff.
- You will take your skills to the next level while having a blast doing it. Stories and friendships made on staff last a long time as only those who have served on staff can attest. Our troop SPL will lead our staff to great success!
Minimum requirements for NYLT Youth staff members:
- Be at least 14 years old
- Have held position of leadership in their home unit
- Have attended NYLT
- Be a registered member of a Scouting unit
What does it mean to be an adult staff member for a NYLT course?
- Adult staff have the opportunity to coach and mentor youth staff as they run the course.
- You get to watch tomorrow’s leaders leap forward in their journey in realizing their own leadership potential.
- The adult staff support the youth staff in their endeavor to exemplifying leadership to those new to leadership.
What kind of time commitment would you be signing up for as a NYLT staff member?
Staff members have to prepare to run a course and that takes time. For 2025, we are running an updated course and therefore will require more time together on staff development weekends. These staff development weekends give us time to understand any updates to course programming, practice the skills needed by youth staff for course, and setup course materials.
Our course staff calendar will have the following events:
- 1 staff orientation day
- 4 Staff Development weekends
- Course set-up days
- All Course days
- Post-course Teardown
- Packing & Storing
* Note: All staff members will have additional commitments of time and effort dedicated to preparing for Development Weekends and to learning Program Content preparation and presentation. Members holding staff positions must be able to make NYLT their top priority and will be expected to attend all scheduled NYLT events and activities in their entirety. However, life gets in the way at times, and we strive to adapt to scheduling conflicts and other commitments. Youth staff senior leadership must be informed in advance of any conflicts in scheduling for both approvals to be given and arrangements to be made to make up training which will be missed. We expect our staff to communicate effectively and responsibly in order to compensate for absences.
What does it cost to be on staff?
Yes… there is a financial cost for being on staff. The good news is that we typically charge a fraction of participant fees of that year.
Staff registration fees cover:
- Food for staff development
- Programming for staff development
- Items and uniform pieces needed for staff
Staff will also have the opportunity to purchase NYLT staff “swag” items at their own convenience and budget.
* Note: All 2025 staff is expected to budget and have staff registration paid by Feb 14, 2025.
I want to work summer camp staff, will NYLT staff commitments conflict with summer camp staff commitments?
We make a significant effort for those on our youth staff wishing to serve on the Maumee Summer Camp Staff. In fact, we encourage it. We tag-team efforts with the Summer Camp Staff Leadership to encourage this opportunity.