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.
Who can go to NYLT?
Scouts and Venturers can attend NYLT if they meet these nationally-mandated requirements before the start of the course.
- Age 13 or older
- At least First Class rank
- Attended ILST
- Age 14 or be age 13 and have completed the 8th grade
- Attended ILSC/ILSS
Attend one of our upcoming sessions!
Fall Session
November 19-22 & December 3-4
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cell phones are allowed, subject to NYLT policy. Our expectation is that phones will be turned off all the time and will not be used except as requested or in an emergency. There should not be any camera use, texting, or social media.
NYLT is a highly structured, six-day leadership experience set in the outdoors. As such, the use of personal electronic devices of any kind is not necessary for the proper completion of the NYLT course, and in fact is a distraction and interferes with the NYLT training. All devices should be left at home, and neither NYLT, Bert Adams Scout Camp, nor the BSA are responsible for damages or the loss of any device. Each NYLT course has a trained adult staff dedicated to managing any emergency communication. Any personal electronic device utilized at any time by participants will be confiscated and returned at the end of the course. Multiple offenses will be grounds for dismissal from NYLT.
For Scouts that would like to go to NYLT and need financial assistance, we offer Camperships – scholarships to attend NYLT. Camperships cover up to 50% of the course fee, but we are limited in the number we can award, so there is an application process and requirements each Campership recipient must fulfill. Below are those requirements:
- Applicants must be registered in the Atlanta Area Council
- Applicants must have completed 10 hours of community service, not counting hours used for advancement or a troop-sponsored project, and attach proof thereof
- Applicants must have their parent or guardian attach an explanation to the request
- Applicants must have their unit committee chair approve the request
- The Campership application must arrive at the council no less than 60 days prior to the course
- Full refunds are available up until 30 days before the start of the course.
- A refund of all but the $75 dollar deposit is available within 30 days of the course.
- Event no-shows are not eligible for a refund.
Apply to join NYLT Staff!
| File Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| BSA Medical Form | Download | |
| NYLT Flyer | Download | |
| Packing List: Fall/Winter | Download | |
| Packing List: Spring/Summer | Download | |
| Scoutmaster Recommendation | Unit Leaders must complete a recommendation form for any Scout registering for NYLT. Completed forms may be submitted by either the Scout or Unit Leader by clicking the button labeled 'Submit a Participant Scoutmaster Recommendation' on this page. | Download |