Who should attend NYLT

[Its Me]

 

Its November and NYLT is in July. I have to begin planning and preparing a scout for the week long commitment. Do I plan to send the current SPL? Do I send the SPL and ASPL assuming that one will follow the other? Our SPL was elected in October. I can see him getting re-elected in March. He will be half way through his second term by the time he gets into NYLT. Is he too late? Do I hedge and and send two? Three?

 

 

[Cubmaster Randy]

I went to JLT as a youth. It was a great experience. I was about 16 and had been already SPL for a year or two

I came back with a lot of good ideas and some new leadership skills.

It would have been nice if some others from my troop went, but they had scheduling conflicts

 

If I could, I would send any qualified and interested scouts that we could afford to send.

 

[Joni4TA]

We are forced with the same kind of decision in our Troop right now. I just came to the Troop last May. Apparently they have sent 2 boys the last couple years in a row, making it 4 out of the 18 active in the Troop right now who've been to this youth training.

 

I am sort of torn on this because I don't see where the 4 boys that went have applied anything that they've learned at their training, here at Troop level. It could be that we didn't have the member numbers back then to operate with Patrols, and the cedar badge or nylt they went to was geared toward patrol method? I am honestly not sure.

 

I hope we figure it out soon because we do need to make a decision!

[mdutch]

My first answer would be to send anybody who wants to. Ask the scouts in your troop who wants to go. Anybody who is willing to spend a week of their summer in leadership training will probably gain something from it. And they will have a better time if they want to be their. I can't speak directly to NYLT, as I attended JLTC, but I would say that if you have already have some experience as either a PL or ASPL or SPL or Troop Guide then you will gain more from the experience. Finally, I would say that if you could see the scout as being SPL or ASPL in the next 1-3 years, then you should send them.

[Eagledad]

>>Finally, I would say that if you could see the scout as being SPL or ASPL in the next 1-3 years, then you should send them.

[dan]

Send your future leaders, not your current leaders. Unless they maybe a future leader again.

NYLT is a three phase course the first phase is Troop Leadership Training. The second phase is NYLT the the third is training at Philmont as Eagledad has stated.

Do not send immature scouts or scouts that need to be straighted out. They have been my most time consuming while on staff.

I would suggest that you send scouts that you as the SM thinks will make good leaders, SPL, ASPL, Troop Guides, and Instructors.

NYLT is based on a month of a life of a troop. The syllabus says all leaders including PL, but after seeing how the course is run, the patrols are run like new scout patrol with a troop guide with the patrol for at least the first half or more of the course, depending on how well the patrol is doing. Patrol leaders should get something out of the course but not as much as the above mentioned leaders.

 

Joni

Has any of the scouts that went to NYLT been a SPL or ASPL or Troop Guide or Instructor? Does anyone remind them that maybe they could use some of the tools they learned at NYLT?

[insanescouter]

As a NYLT staff member my 3rd year this coming summer ... I recommend you send as may young leaders and you are allowed to. You should strive to get as many of them through NYLT as you do to get adults through Wood Badge ... I understand the cost can be an issue and many camperships for summer camp will also pay for NYLT... One year the Troop I am with sent 6 scouts another year only 4 ... I say send as many of the PLC members as you can ...

 

Anyways just my wacky 2 cents ...

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

[AvidSM]

We elect our SPL in May. If he hasn't been through NYLT, we encourage him to attend and the troop pays. May gives us enough time to submit paperwork for NYLT in August. Also, the ASPL goes if he hasn't been already. Having the troop pay is a real incentive for attending. Having NYLT in August works out because the SPL and ASPL are trained in time for the program year start in September. I agree that there is no sense in having the SPL/ASPL attend if he is half way through his tenure. I also agree that the troop should only send mature scouts (14+) to NYLT.

[Eagledad]

>>I agree that there is no sense in having the SPL/ASPL attend if he is half way through his tenure.

[Ohio_Scouter]

I agree wholeheartedly, Eagledad, and all this leadership responsibility is why we are going to double our Scoutmaster's salary!!

[Joni4TA]

From what I understand in our Unit - two years ago the Troop paid for 2 Scouts to attend. Last year, it was half the price for 2 Scouts. This year we're so broke, we can't even afford to pay attention! So we are looking at possibly paying HALF for 1 Scout, and the Scout's parent coming up with the other half. And of course if anyone else wants to go, they pay full price. I think that's what we're talking about doing anyhow.

 

From the list of boys I have heard attended in recent years, not one of them has applied what they learned to the troop program. As far as I know, every older boy in our Troop or higher ranking Scout that could and WANTED to go, has gone. The only exception is my son, who is 15, a Star scout, has been SPL and PL at different times throughout his tenure, but was never even offered JLT!

 

Personally I would recommend my son go to the training, but how presumptuous is that?

 

I don't know how we choose. Does the SM choose? Does the Committee choose? Do all Committee and Direct Contact leaders get together and choose?

[LongHaul]

Your question of how boys are chosen is a good one. You should find that out.

In my troop, as SM, I would tell not ask my TC who I wanted to send at the troops expense others could go at their expense or could ask the TC for monetary help (which has happened and the monetary aid was given) As SM I'm in charge of program and to that end I am allowed by the TC to prepare those I feel are in a position to take over troop leadership.

As to who should attend? Every scout 14 years old and First Class whether he is or never will be SPL. We are preparing boys for the rest of their lives not just for service to the unit. Money is always a factor. For some troops it's a small factor others it's a forbidding factor. The same with individual families. The course is still the same and is beneficial. No matter what the boys "prospects" are this course won't hurt and in 99.9% of the cases will eventually help in life.

LH

If at all possible send at least 2 boys. Having only one junior leader that is trained makes it hard to implement that training. If we could teach this stuff in a troop setting we would not need NYLT or WB. It needs to be done in a large group to get the real benifit and needs to be implemented back in the unit. The boy needs a backup.(This message has been edited by LongHaul)

[Eagledad]

>>It needs to be done in a large group to get the real benefit and needs to be implemented back in the unit. The boy needs a backup.

[LongHaul]

Seeing that NYLT is modeled after WB21st are you saying that WB21st doesn't teach leadership it teaches people to teach leadership?

LH

[Eagledad]

I'm saying that we couldn't even begin to teach the skills required for good leadership at the SPL level, so we ran the course giving the expectation that the scouts would go back and teach the skills to the rest of the scouts. THey were still ASPL and SPLs, but the burden on them from us was passing those skills on to the rest of the troop. We of course hope they use the skills and we got letters saying they did, but we wanted to set the standard of expected leadership maturity high. I would say in reality, less then 50% of the units actually did use their scouts to teach JLT. It was a scoutmaster problem.

 

That was back in the JLTC days where scout skills was part of the course. One of the problems we encountered with Scoutmasters is that they expected us to teach their scouts scout skills. Imagine, at age 14 or older, they still expected us to teach scout skills. So, to nip that expectation in the bud, we told the Scoutmasters that we expected the scouts to already know first class skills. We were not teaching cooking either. Boy that was a hot potato for a while as well.

 

Part of the reason for the high standards was to set a council minimum level of expectation for the troops. Not many do that really. In fact there are some councils that encouraged 11 and 12 year old scouts to go to JLTC. After investigation, they were basically just scouts skills developments. I was told that is why National is so insistent that scouts be at least 14 for NYLT. It is to prevent councils from dumbing down the course.

 

My complaint with the new course is that it should be teaching leadership skills instead of vision, mission and team building. Oh sure those are important, expecailly at the adult level, but we should start with the basics before we get into the team building side. That is me of course.

 

Barry