National Youth Leadership Training 2009

National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) 2009 – Camp Josepho

The following are my thoughts on National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT.) From the beginning of camp we were assigned to patrols based on our age. I thought this was a good idea because it gave every boy an opportunity to lead within his peer group. However one area in which I saw a need for improvement was in having the boys lead. They were given the role but not the opportunity to lead.

There was one thing that I think would be very useful at the troop and patrol level, and that is Stop, Start, and Continue. We can do this every meeting and have a mini PLC, the patrol leaders can tell us at the weekly meetings what we need to stop doing, start doing, and continue doing. This can also be done in Patrol corners.

Something I found valuable in knowing where patrols are in terms of their development was the four stages of team development. These stages are Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. There are different symptoms for these, Forming is when the kids have high enthusiasm but low skill. Storming, the kids have low skill and low enthusiasm. Norming, the kids have rising skills and rising enthusiasm. Performing, the kids are high skills and high enthusiasm. The way to lead these different stages of development is when a group is Forming you should explain, Storming you demonstrate, Norming you guide, and Performing you enable.

There were some pretty intense discipline problems, starting on the first night. One boy was very disruptive, for example yelling out comments during films. He was asked to leave on day 3. Two others, one in my patrol, threw human feces at boys in the younger patrols and at their tents. The truth of who had had done this only came out towards the middle of the training and on day 5 the guilty boys were asked to leave. According to the the Scoutmaster Mr. Harlan Hogue, this has never happened before that so many boys were asked to leave.

I thought the adult leaders handled both these circumstances well and used them as an opportunity to show what leadership is not about.

Overall I thought the training was well done and I thank you and the rest of the committee for giving me the opportunity to do the program.

I would highly recommend that the troop send some boys to NYLT next summer. It’s a great way to grow the troop and for the individual boy’s personal growth.

--Keith Krueger, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Troop 104