National Youth Leadership Training

National Youth Leadership Training course or the Quest for the Meaning of Servant Leadership. We held it at Camp Wolfeboro, Arnold, CA.

 After Staff Development our youth leaders were ready.

Staff development was not all work and no play.

With staff development completed they were ready to go lead and run the course.

Day 1 at the entrance to Camp Wolfeboro 86 participants prepared to enter the camp and their individual quests.

All 86 were broken down into patrols with other scouts that they did not know.

Thus they began their team development.

Each patrol had a well trained and knowledgeable Troop Guide.

Team problem solving happened almost 24 hours a day. Here it was the marshmallow challenge.

How to build a tower out of a marshmallow and dried spaghetti.

It was a lot of trial and error with each team.

All the while learning about themselves and their patrol.

There was success.

Being Scouts lashing problems were next.

All learning was placed into immediate action: build a chariot for racing the rest of the troop.

Cooking and hospitality were used to put each patrol through the stages of team development. Here patrols had to invite others to dinner knocking before being recognized by the potential guests. This patrol kept getting bigger knockers.

Problem solving and team building took different forms.

Leaning about servant leadership occurred everywhere.

The blind tent challenge.

Provisions were made by the youth staff for every kind of scout.

Working the trolley.

Leaders learning from other servant leaders.

Singing is a team sport. The participant scouts often lead singing on their own. One patrol even wrote a original song explaining Servant Leadership.

Final instructions.

Each patrol presented what they learned to the entire troop in the form of songs or skits.

A tired but enthusiastic NYLT Staff.

The objectives of National Youth Leadership Training are:

• Give youth the confidence and knowledge to conduct a youth-run program thus learning life skills
• Train youth in all aspects of effective leadership, ranging from teaching skills to motivating an organization
• Guide the youth through the stages of team development
• Give youth the opportunity to share ideas and experiences with youth from other units.
• Enhancement of the relationship between the youth and adults.
• Create an environment of Scouting fellowship and fun guided by the Scout Oath and Law
• Experience Scouting at its best.

How National Youth Leadership Training works

I’m privileged to be the Scoutmaster/Course Director for this NYLT at Camp Wolfeboro.  National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) is the servant leadership development training offered by the Boy Scouts of America. It is intended to provide standardized, in-depth training covering a number of leadership ideas and skills.

NYLT is run by youth leaders under adult supervision. The Senior Patrol Leader (SPL) runs course meetings and events, chairs meetings of the team leaders’ meeting, delegates duties to other youth staff, assists the Scoutmaster, models the learning and leadership skills, and recruits participants. The youth staff is trained in presenting, coaching, and mentoring, enabling them to conduct the program.

For More Information: Boy Scouts,  Mt. Diablo Silverado Council, Wiki

About the Author: Besides being Scoutmaster/Course Director of the June NYLT and a Silver Beaver recipient, Ken Strongman (www.kpstrongman.com) has years of experience and a growing national reputation as a mediator and arbitrator. He has successfully resolved more than a thousand disputes in the fields of construction defects, real estate, intellectual property, and employment. He is also a Mediator and Arbitrator for FINRA.
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