Leadership training (Boy Scouts of America)
Encyclopedia
Leadership training in the Boy Scouts of America includes training on how to administer the Scouting program, outdoor skills training for adults and youth, and leadership development courses for adults and youth. Some of these courses like Youth Protection Training are mandatory. Most of the courses are offered by the local council, while a few are hosted at the national level, currently at Philmont Training Center
in New Mexico. They are available to members of all of the Boy Scout programs, including Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Explorer Posts, and Venture Crews.
. Each adult must also complete a Fast Start training specific to their program. Position-specific training is provided, including unit committee members, Den Leaders, Cubmasters, Scoutmasters, Unit Commissioners, and others. Skill-specific training is also available to gain knowledge in outdoors skills including camping, hiking, first aid, Leave No Trace, swim safety, climbing safety, hazardous weather, and other skills.
The highest level of training available to Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, and Venturing
leaders is Wood Badge for the 21st Century
.
In 2010, the National Council added new content about "Diversity/Inclusiveness", A "Communications Patrol," and content on "Generations." Participants who complete Wood Badge are eligible to attend a new national course at Philmont Training Center
. The Philmont Leadership Challenge mirrors the experience youth get at National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience
.
program to do this. Powder Horn is available to Venturing
, Boy Scouting and Varsity Scouting
leaders. Adult leaders of Boy Scouts of America
's Sea Scouting program can take Seabadge, which is offered by four BSA Regions in two or three locations each year. Additional high-level adventure programs are available at Philmont Training Center
.
graduates have been recognized since the program's inception with a leather thong decorated with two beads. Individuals who take part on staff are eligible to wear three beads, while Course Directors are recognized with four beads. These beads were presented to the first Wood Badge participants by Baden-Powell
, who obtained them while on a military campaign
in Zululand
, from a Zulu king named Dinizulu. Baden-Powell is said to have found the necklace when he came to Dinizulu's deserted mountain stronghold.
As of 2010, the National Council decided that adults who staff other courses, including National Youth Leadership Training
, National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience
and Philmont Leadership Challenge, are all eligible to earn 3 and 4 beads based on specific criteria outlined in the NYLT Staff Guide.
The second course is a council-level, week-long National Youth Leadership Training
(NYLT) usually held at a council camp. This course is an in-depth training program covering a variety of leadership ideas and skills. It is designed to simulate a month in the life of a Boy Scout unit. It uses fun and hands-on learning sessions to teach leadership skills. The Scouts learn about service-based leadership as they undertake a patrol quest for the meaning of leadership.
The third program, National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience
(NAYLE), is offered to a limited number of youth at the Philmont Training Center
. Six courses were offered in 2011. The cost for the course in 2011 was $355. Transportation to and from Philmont is not included in the cost. Scouts are given an opportunity to expand their team building and ethical decision making skills learned in NYLT. NAYLE uses elements of Philmont Ranger training as well as advanced search-and-rescue skills to teach leadership, teamwork, and the lessons of selfless service. The NAYLE program is held in the Philmont wilderness where participants are taught leadership and teamwork using the elements of NYLT. It trains youth staff members from all regions to help lead council-level NYLT courses.
Venture crew members ages 14 through 21 of the Venturing
program are encouraged to attend the Venturing Leadership Skills Course
which is provided by the Venture Crew or the local Boy Scout council. Crew officers can attend Crew Officer Orientation. and then a council-provided Kodiak
leadership training program.
(NYLT) program has its origins in leadership development programs developed by the Boy Scouts of America in the 1960s. Up to that point, junior leader training had been focused on Scoutcraft
skills and the Patrol Method. Béla H. Bánáthy
, Training Chairman of the Monterey Bay Area Council, California, founded the White Stag Leadership Development Program
in 1958, and the National Boy Scout Council later adapted the leadership competencies he identified and developed into its junior leader training program. The national council's program has gone through a number of revisions since then, and the emphasis on and description of the leadership skills has evolved over the years.
NYLT is the most current incarnation of junior leader training program offered by the Boy Scouts of America. Its origins as a program that teaches leadership skills originated on the Presidio of Monterey at the Army Language School
in California. Until the early 1960s, junior leader training focused primarily on Scoutcraft
skills and teaching the Patrol Method. Béla H. Bánáthy
, a veteran of World War II
and a Hungarian
refugee
, had been national director for youth leadership development for the Hungarian Boy Scout Association
. In 1958 he was Training Chairman of the Monterey Bay Area Council and a Hungarian language instructor at the Army Language School
on the Monterey Peninsula
. That summer he organized an experimental patrol to teach boys leadership skills at the Monterey Bay Area Council's Pico Blanco Scout Reservation
. A group of volunteer Scouters formally christened it as the White Stag
program in 1959, and through the early 1960s it gradually evolved into a three-phase, multi-year program. The Presidio commanding officer saw value in the program early on and provided a building on the post for the Scouts' use.
Béla Bánáthy was personal friends with Bob Perin, Assistant National Director of the Volunteer Training Service for the Boy Scouts of America. Perin provided guidance and acted as a liaison to the National Council. Two members of the Monterey Bay Area Council also had connections with the National Council: Fran Peterson of Chular, California, was a member of the BSA's National Engineering Service, and F. Maurice Tripp of Saratoga
, California, was a research scientist and member of the National Boy Scout Training Committee. They encouraged the national staff to look at the White Stag program. In January 1964, Boy Scout executives and board members from the National Council and the Monterey Bay Area Council's executive staff and some of its board members attended a meeting at Asilomar
in Pacific Grove
, California. Organized by Tripp, the purpose of the meeting was to acquaint the national council leadership with the new design for junior leader training and to evaluate whether the ideas could be effectively incorporated into teaching leadership skills within Scouting.
The meeting was notable for the people it drew from across the United States. The positions of the individuals from the headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America in New Jersey included top national BSA executives and board members. From the National Council, attendees from the professional staff were Marshall Monroe (Assistant National Scout Executive), Bill Lawrence (National Director of Volunteer Training), Bob Perin (Assistant National Director of the Volunteer Training Service), Ken Wells (Director of Research Service), Jack Rhey (National Director of Professional Training), and Walt Whidden (Region 12 Executive). Also present were two volunteers: National Council President Ellsworth Augustus
, and National Council Vice President Herold C. Hunt
, a Professor of Education at Harvard
.
The local attendees also represented the top council leadership. Representatives from the Monterey Bay Area Council were Tom Moore (Monterey Bay Area Council Executive), Dale Hirt (President of the Monterey Bay Area Council), Béla Bánáthy (Council Training Chairman, Director of White Stag, and Director of the East Europe and Middle East Division of the Army Language School
), Paul Hood (Research Scientist at U.S. Army's Human Resources Research Office), John Barr (Chairman of the Department of Education at San Jose State University
), Joe St. Clair (Chairman, Hungarian Department at the Army Language School
on the Presidio and Training Committee Chairman), Fran Peterson (member of the White Stag Advisory Board, Scoutmaster in Chular, California, and member of the National Council's Engineering Service), F. Maurice Tripp (Chairman, White Stag Advisory Committee), Ralph Herring (member of the White Stag Advisory Committee), Ferris Bagley (a retired businessman with an interest in leadership development), and Judson Stull (a White Stag Committee member and local attorney).
, a Professor of Education at Harvard, prevailed on the board to take a longer look. The BSA Research Service was tasked with conducting the necessary research. Larson, at the time a staff researcher for the National Council, traveled to California and observed the program's annual Indaba
at the Presidio of Monterey later that year. Larson and Bob Perin traveled from New Jersey to California repeatedly. They conducted a thorough study, interviewing participants, parents, and leaders. They distributed questionnaires to program participants, reviewed the White Stag literature, and observed the program in action. They also conducted a statistical analysis of troops taking part in White Stag and compared them to non-participating units. In December 1965, Chief Scout Executive Joseph Brunton
received the White Stag Report. It stated that offering leadership development to youth was a unique opportunity for Scouting to provide a practical benefit to youth and would add substantial support to Scouting's character development goals. It recommended that Wood Badge
should be used to implement the leadership development principles of White Stag.
There were a few on the National Staff who strongly resisted the change to how leaders and youth were trained, including "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt, who was loyal to the idea of teaching purely Scoutcraft
skills and the Patrol Method at Wood Badge. While immensely respected for his many contributions to Scouting, Chief Scout Joseph Brunton
overruled Hillcourt's objections and approved adapting the White Stag leadership competencies for nationwide use. Over the next several years, Larson repeatedly visited the Monterey Peninsula to observe and evaluate the White Stag program. He worked with Perin and Bánáthy to adapt the White Stag leadership competencies. Larson wrote the first syllabus for the adult Wood Badge
program. Shifting from teaching primarily Scoutcraft
skills to leadership competencies was a paradigm shift, changing the assumptions, concepts, practices, and values underlying how adults were trained in the skills of Scouting. The change paralleled a similar change in the point of view about how individuals learned leadership skills in society at large from that of trait theory
based on inborn skills to transactional theory
which stipulated that leadership skills could be acquired.
published the results of the Boy Scouts of America's research and testing of the White Stag approach to leadership development. Béla Bánáthy
wrote a monograph Leadership Development: World Scouting Reference Paper No. 1, which he presented in 1969 to a meeting of the World Scout Conference in Helsinki
, Finland
. He advocated leadership development by design in Scouting based on the leadership competencies of White Stag.
In 1968, Salvador Fernández Beltrán
, Deputy Secretary of the World Organization of the Scout Movement
, visited camp during the summer program at Pico Blanco Scout Reservation
. Leaders of the Mexican Scout movement asked Bánáthy to guide them in the adaptation of the White Stag program concept. Bánáthy was appointed to the Interamerican Scout Committee and participated in three Interamerican Train the Trainer events in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. He guided their national training teams in designing leadership development by design programs.
were migrated to a new junior leader training program which was implemented nationwide. Junior leader training programs had until that time focused primarily on Scoutcraft
skills and teaching the Patrol Method. The new program marked the organization's shift from emphasizing Scoutcraft
skills in training to teaching leadership skills and gave credit to White Stag for its origins. The Troop Leader Development program incorporated for the first time eleven specific competencies of leadership. The eleven competencies were adapted from the White Stag Leadership Development Program
. According to the Boy Scout publication:
The junior leader training program incorporated for the first time eleven specific competencies of leadership. Prior junior leader training programs had focused primarily on Scoutcraft
skills and the Patrol Method. The national JLT program extracted the leadership competencies from the White Stag program but did not adopt any of the other White Stag methods, including the spirit and traditions associated with the white stag
of Hungarian mythology
. The national program also changed some of the terminology used to refer to the leadership competencies and identified the competencies as "Leadership Skills"
The program was later revised and renamed Troop Leader Training Conference and then Junior Leader Training Conference.
William Hillcourt came out of retirement and donated a year of his life to write the 9th Edition of the Scout Handbook. It returned to the traditional Scouting program and had a great deal in common with Hillcourt's earlier Handbooks (6th & 7th Editions). It included entire paragraphs and pictures reprinted verbatim from the earlier editions.
skills experiences of Brownsea Double Two." This paralleled a roll-back of an urban emphasis in Scouting which had removed mention of the word "campfire" from the 8th edition of the Boy Scout Handbook. Effective Teaching, formerly named Manager of Learning, was renamed to sound less academic.
While the stated aim was to consolidate the two programs, many councils continued to produce both programs or used elements from the previous programs. This resulted in growing inconsistency in how junior leader training was delivered nation-wide. In 1989 Pine Tree Camp, the Junior Leader Training Conference of the former Viking Council
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
was the proving grounds for a redesign of the Junior Leader Training Conference, a week-long leadership development program sponsored by local Councils for the top youth leaders of Scout troops.
In 1993, the Boy Scouts of America adapted the Pine Tree program's syllabus for national use. A team of volunteers revised the Junior Leader Training Conference, expanded each of the Scoutcraft activities to include learning objectives, added details of the games and contests, a list of materials and summary information. The national council also rewrote the leadership competencies Setting the Example, and to a lesser extent, Controlling the Group. A new concept called reflection was introduced. These sections of the syllabus suggested questions to assist the youth staff with drawing out from participants what they got out of a learning activity, to reinforce what they learned, and to help with evaluation at the end of each learning session.
The syllabus was revised once again in 1995 and renamed Junior Leader Training Conference Staff Guide. It presented modified versions of the eleven leadership competencies conceived of by Béla Bánáthy and still being presented by the White Stag program.
After successful regional pilot courses, NYLT was mandated for use in place of all other junior leadership development programs in the nation. This created a standard of training that would be consistent around the country. The consistency is achieved by providing many of the programatic resources required by the program such as a DVD with pre-canned presentations and videos.
The content contained in the Boy Scouts of America
youth leadership training program has evolved as the business world's model of leadership
theory have evolved. In the 1960s, concepts of participatory leadership
were evolving from trait-based
leadership to transaction-based
models. The former included Rensis Likert
's System 4 leadership model and the latter Blake and Moulton
's Managerial grid model
. The Boy Scout's junior leader training program similarly evolved, adapting comparable principles from the White Stag program
in the late 1960s.
Since then, the program has evolved to keep pace with changes to the adult Wood Badge
program, which now emphasizes the stages of team development based on the principles described by Bruce Tuckman
in 1965 as forming-storming-norming-performing
.
still calls their program "Grey Wolf", the Mecklenburg County Council still calls their course "Top Gun National Youth Leadership Training", and the San Francisco Bay Area Council still informally refers to their program as "Brownsea NYLT".
is a pilot program conducted by the Northeast Region that trains youth staff members for council-level NYLT courses. NLA is in the development phase and may eventually be offered in each of the four regions.
Philmont Training Center
The Philmont Training Center , located at the Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico, has been the National Training Center of the Boy Scouts of America since 1950. The PTC offers week-long training conferences from June through September for council, district, and unit volunteers, BSA...
in New Mexico. They are available to members of all of the Boy Scout programs, including Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Explorer Posts, and Venture Crews.
Adult leadership training
Depending on the adult volunteer's role, the Boy Scouts require all adults to attend a variety of training and leadership programs. Every adult leader must annually complete Youth Protection TrainingYouth Protection program (Boy Scouts of America)
The Youth Protection program is a set of standards, guidelines and training developed by the Boy Scouts of America to eliminate opportunities for the abuse of youth members. All adults are required to complete the Youth Protection Program training before being registered as BSA leaders and must be...
. Each adult must also complete a Fast Start training specific to their program. Position-specific training is provided, including unit committee members, Den Leaders, Cubmasters, Scoutmasters, Unit Commissioners, and others. Skill-specific training is also available to gain knowledge in outdoors skills including camping, hiking, first aid, Leave No Trace, swim safety, climbing safety, hazardous weather, and other skills.
The highest level of training available to Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, and Venturing
Venturing (Boy Scouts of America)
Venturing is part of the program of the Boy Scouts of America for young adults, men and women, from the age of 14 years old or 13 years old and completed eighth grade through 21....
leaders is Wood Badge for the 21st Century
Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)
Wood Badge is the highest level of adult Scout leader training available. It was first presented in England by the founder of Scouting, Baden Powell, and he introduced the program into the United States during a visit in 1936. The first course was held at the Mortimer L. Schiff Scout Reservation,...
.
In 2010, the National Council added new content about "Diversity/Inclusiveness", A "Communications Patrol," and content on "Generations." Participants who complete Wood Badge are eligible to attend a new national course at Philmont Training Center
Philmont Training Center
The Philmont Training Center , located at the Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico, has been the National Training Center of the Boy Scouts of America since 1950. The PTC offers week-long training conferences from June through September for council, district, and unit volunteers, BSA...
. The Philmont Leadership Challenge mirrors the experience youth get at National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience
National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience
The National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience is offered by the Philmont Training Center of the Boy Scouts of America. It is a week-long, high-adventure, backcountry leadership development experience for boys and girls 14–20 years old...
.
High adventure training
The local council can offer high-adventure training to help prepare adults to conduct outdoor activities. Some councils use Powder HornPowder Horn (Boy Scouts of America)
Powder Horn is a high adventure resource course for Venturing, Boy Scouting and Varsity Scouting leaders of the Boy Scouts of America . The goals of Powder Horn are to: help Scout leaders to safely conduct outdoor activities of a fun and challenging nature, provide an introduction to the resources...
program to do this. Powder Horn is available to Venturing
Venturing (Boy Scouts of America)
Venturing is part of the program of the Boy Scouts of America for young adults, men and women, from the age of 14 years old or 13 years old and completed eighth grade through 21....
, Boy Scouting and Varsity Scouting
Varsity Scouts (Boy Scouts of America)
Varsity Scouting is part of the Boy Scouting program of the BSA. It is an alternative available to boys ages fourteen to eighteen that takes the basic Boy Scouting program and adds high adventure, sporting, and other elements that are more appealing to older youth to accomplish the aims of...
leaders. Adult leaders of Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
's Sea Scouting program can take Seabadge, which is offered by four BSA Regions in two or three locations each year. Additional high-level adventure programs are available at Philmont Training Center
Philmont Training Center
The Philmont Training Center , located at the Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico, has been the National Training Center of the Boy Scouts of America since 1950. The PTC offers week-long training conferences from June through September for council, district, and unit volunteers, BSA...
.
Bead recognition
All Wood BadgeWood Badge
Wood Badge is a Scouting leadership program and the related award for adult leaders in the programs of Scout associations throughout the world. Wood Badge courses aim to make Scouters better leaders by teaching advanced leadership skills, and by creating a bond and commitment to the Scout movement...
graduates have been recognized since the program's inception with a leather thong decorated with two beads. Individuals who take part on staff are eligible to wear three beads, while Course Directors are recognized with four beads. These beads were presented to the first Wood Badge participants by Baden-Powell
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB , also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement....
, who obtained them while on a military campaign
Military campaign
In the military sciences, the term military campaign applies to large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war...
in Zululand
Zulu Kingdom
The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or, rather imprecisely, Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to Pongola River in the north....
, from a Zulu king named Dinizulu. Baden-Powell is said to have found the necklace when he came to Dinizulu's deserted mountain stronghold.
As of 2010, the National Council decided that adults who staff other courses, including National Youth Leadership Training
National Youth Leadership Training
National Youth Leadership Training is the current incarnation of youth leadership development training offered by the Boy Scouts of America . The program is conducted at the council level over a week or over two weekends. It is intended to provide standardized, in-depth training covering a number...
, National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience
National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience
The National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience is offered by the Philmont Training Center of the Boy Scouts of America. It is a week-long, high-adventure, backcountry leadership development experience for boys and girls 14–20 years old...
and Philmont Leadership Challenge, are all eligible to earn 3 and 4 beads based on specific criteria outlined in the NYLT Staff Guide.
Youth leadership training
Boys 10 to 18 are offered a variety of training programs. Boy Scout troop Scoutmasters are encouraged to offer Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops, a unit level three-hour training session for all new boy leaders. The first program is designed to be run as-needed in a troop setting. The Scoutmaster and senior patrol leader will conduct this three-hour training whenever there are new Scouts or there has been a shift in leadership positions within the patrol or the troop. Venture Crew members are offered a new course, Introduction to Leadership Skills for Crews.The second course is a council-level, week-long National Youth Leadership Training
National Youth Leadership Training
National Youth Leadership Training is the current incarnation of youth leadership development training offered by the Boy Scouts of America . The program is conducted at the council level over a week or over two weekends. It is intended to provide standardized, in-depth training covering a number...
(NYLT) usually held at a council camp. This course is an in-depth training program covering a variety of leadership ideas and skills. It is designed to simulate a month in the life of a Boy Scout unit. It uses fun and hands-on learning sessions to teach leadership skills. The Scouts learn about service-based leadership as they undertake a patrol quest for the meaning of leadership.
The third program, National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience
National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience
The National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience is offered by the Philmont Training Center of the Boy Scouts of America. It is a week-long, high-adventure, backcountry leadership development experience for boys and girls 14–20 years old...
(NAYLE), is offered to a limited number of youth at the Philmont Training Center
Philmont Training Center
The Philmont Training Center , located at the Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico, has been the National Training Center of the Boy Scouts of America since 1950. The PTC offers week-long training conferences from June through September for council, district, and unit volunteers, BSA...
. Six courses were offered in 2011. The cost for the course in 2011 was $355. Transportation to and from Philmont is not included in the cost. Scouts are given an opportunity to expand their team building and ethical decision making skills learned in NYLT. NAYLE uses elements of Philmont Ranger training as well as advanced search-and-rescue skills to teach leadership, teamwork, and the lessons of selfless service. The NAYLE program is held in the Philmont wilderness where participants are taught leadership and teamwork using the elements of NYLT. It trains youth staff members from all regions to help lead council-level NYLT courses.
Venture crew members ages 14 through 21 of the Venturing
Venturing (Boy Scouts of America)
Venturing is part of the program of the Boy Scouts of America for young adults, men and women, from the age of 14 years old or 13 years old and completed eighth grade through 21....
program are encouraged to attend the Venturing Leadership Skills Course
Venturing Leadership Skills Course
Introduction to Leadership Skills for Crews is the first level leadership development course for Venturers in the Boy Scouts of America's Venturing program for older youth . It replaced the Venturing Leadership Skills Course...
which is provided by the Venture Crew or the local Boy Scout council. Crew officers can attend Crew Officer Orientation. and then a council-provided Kodiak
Kodiak (Boy Scouts of America)
Kodiak, and its followup Kodiak X, are the second and third level leadership development courses for Venturers in the Boy Scouts of America's Venturing program for older youth ....
leadership training program.
History of youth leadership programs
The National Youth Leadership TrainingNational Youth Leadership Training
National Youth Leadership Training is the current incarnation of youth leadership development training offered by the Boy Scouts of America . The program is conducted at the council level over a week or over two weekends. It is intended to provide standardized, in-depth training covering a number...
(NYLT) program has its origins in leadership development programs developed by the Boy Scouts of America in the 1960s. Up to that point, junior leader training had been focused on Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of woodcraft knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organizations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the...
skills and the Patrol Method. Béla H. Bánáthy
Béla H. Bánáthy
Béla Heinrich Bánáthy was a Hungarian linguist, systems scientist and a professor at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley. Bánáthy was the founder of the White Stag Leadership Development Program whose leadership model was adopted across the United States...
, Training Chairman of the Monterey Bay Area Council, California, founded the White Stag Leadership Development Program
White Stag Leadership Development Program
The White Stag Leadership Development Program is a non-profit organization that sponsors youth leadership development activities. Founded on the Monterey Peninsula, California, in 1958 by Dr. Béla H. Bánáthy, it traces its history to the 1933 World Jamboree in Gödöllő, Hungary, which took as its...
in 1958, and the National Boy Scout Council later adapted the leadership competencies he identified and developed into its junior leader training program. The national council's program has gone through a number of revisions since then, and the emphasis on and description of the leadership skills has evolved over the years.
NYLT is the most current incarnation of junior leader training program offered by the Boy Scouts of America. Its origins as a program that teaches leadership skills originated on the Presidio of Monterey at the Army Language School
Defense Language Institute
The Defense Language Institute is a United States Department of Defense educational and research institution, which provides linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other Federal Agencies and numerous and varied other customers...
in California. Until the early 1960s, junior leader training focused primarily on Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of woodcraft knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organizations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the...
skills and teaching the Patrol Method. Béla H. Bánáthy
Béla H. Bánáthy
Béla Heinrich Bánáthy was a Hungarian linguist, systems scientist and a professor at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley. Bánáthy was the founder of the White Stag Leadership Development Program whose leadership model was adopted across the United States...
, a veteran of World War II
Hungary during World War II
Hungary during World War II was a member of the Axis powers. In the 1930s, the Kingdom of Hungary relied on increased trade with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany to pull itself out of the Great Depression. By 1938, Hungarian politics and foreign policy had become increasingly pro-Fascist Italian and...
and a Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
refugee
Displaced persons camp
A displaced persons camp or DP camp is a temporary facility for displaced persons coerced into forced migration. The term is mainly used for camps established after World War II in West Germany and in Austria, as well as in the United Kingdom, primarily for refugees from Eastern Europe and for the...
, had been national director for youth leadership development for the Hungarian Boy Scout Association
Magyar Cserkészszövetség
Magyar Cserkészszövetség , the primary national Scouting organization of Hungary, was founded in 1912, and became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1922 and again after the rebirth of Scouting in the country in 1990...
. In 1958 he was Training Chairman of the Monterey Bay Area Council and a Hungarian language instructor at the Army Language School
Defense Language Institute
The Defense Language Institute is a United States Department of Defense educational and research institution, which provides linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other Federal Agencies and numerous and varied other customers...
on the Monterey Peninsula
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
. That summer he organized an experimental patrol to teach boys leadership skills at the Monterey Bay Area Council's Pico Blanco Scout Reservation
Pico Blanco Scout Reservation
Pico Blanco Scout Reservation is a summer camp of about in Central California, operated by the Monterey Bay Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Constructed during 1953-1954, it takes its name from the adjacent Pico Blanco . The land was donated to the Council by William R. Hearst in 1948...
. A group of volunteer Scouters formally christened it as the White Stag
White Stag Leadership Development Program
The White Stag Leadership Development Program is a non-profit organization that sponsors youth leadership development activities. Founded on the Monterey Peninsula, California, in 1958 by Dr. Béla H. Bánáthy, it traces its history to the 1933 World Jamboree in Gödöllő, Hungary, which took as its...
program in 1959, and through the early 1960s it gradually evolved into a three-phase, multi-year program. The Presidio commanding officer saw value in the program early on and provided a building on the post for the Scouts' use.
Béla Bánáthy was personal friends with Bob Perin, Assistant National Director of the Volunteer Training Service for the Boy Scouts of America. Perin provided guidance and acted as a liaison to the National Council. Two members of the Monterey Bay Area Council also had connections with the National Council: Fran Peterson of Chular, California, was a member of the BSA's National Engineering Service, and F. Maurice Tripp of Saratoga
Saratoga, California
Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....
, California, was a research scientist and member of the National Boy Scout Training Committee. They encouraged the national staff to look at the White Stag program. In January 1964, Boy Scout executives and board members from the National Council and the Monterey Bay Area Council's executive staff and some of its board members attended a meeting at Asilomar
Asilomar Conference Grounds
Asilomar Conference Grounds is a conference center built for the YWCA in 1913 at Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove, California. Julia Morgan designed and built 16 of the buildings on the property, of which 11 are still standing. It became part of Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds in...
in Pacific Grove
Pacific Grove, California
Pacific Grove is a coastal city in Monterey County, California, USA, with a population of 15,041 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,522 as of the 2000 census...
, California. Organized by Tripp, the purpose of the meeting was to acquaint the national council leadership with the new design for junior leader training and to evaluate whether the ideas could be effectively incorporated into teaching leadership skills within Scouting.
The meeting was notable for the people it drew from across the United States. The positions of the individuals from the headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America in New Jersey included top national BSA executives and board members. From the National Council, attendees from the professional staff were Marshall Monroe (Assistant National Scout Executive), Bill Lawrence (National Director of Volunteer Training), Bob Perin (Assistant National Director of the Volunteer Training Service), Ken Wells (Director of Research Service), Jack Rhey (National Director of Professional Training), and Walt Whidden (Region 12 Executive). Also present were two volunteers: National Council President Ellsworth Augustus
Ellsworth H. Augustus
Ellsworth Hunt Augustus was an American businessman from Cleveland, Ohio who served as the tenth National president of the Boy Scouts of America.-Biography:He was born on November 23, 1897 in Cleveland, Ohio....
, and National Council Vice President Herold C. Hunt
Herold C. Hunt
Herold Christian Hunt was a Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools, bringing it out of an era of political patronage. He was the Charles W...
, a Professor of Education at Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
The local attendees also represented the top council leadership. Representatives from the Monterey Bay Area Council were Tom Moore (Monterey Bay Area Council Executive), Dale Hirt (President of the Monterey Bay Area Council), Béla Bánáthy (Council Training Chairman, Director of White Stag, and Director of the East Europe and Middle East Division of the Army Language School
Defense Language Institute
The Defense Language Institute is a United States Department of Defense educational and research institution, which provides linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other Federal Agencies and numerous and varied other customers...
), Paul Hood (Research Scientist at U.S. Army's Human Resources Research Office), John Barr (Chairman of the Department of Education at San Jose State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
), Joe St. Clair (Chairman, Hungarian Department at the Army Language School
Defense Language Institute
The Defense Language Institute is a United States Department of Defense educational and research institution, which provides linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other Federal Agencies and numerous and varied other customers...
on the Presidio and Training Committee Chairman), Fran Peterson (member of the White Stag Advisory Board, Scoutmaster in Chular, California, and member of the National Council's Engineering Service), F. Maurice Tripp (Chairman, White Stag Advisory Committee), Ralph Herring (member of the White Stag Advisory Committee), Ferris Bagley (a retired businessman with an interest in leadership development), and Judson Stull (a White Stag Committee member and local attorney).
National Council approves study
The National Council was, according to Dr. John W. Larson, former Director of Boy Scout Leader Training for the National Council, "snowed by Bánáthy's language. They didn't get what he was talking about." But one national board member did. Herold HuntHerold C. Hunt
Herold Christian Hunt was a Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools, bringing it out of an era of political patronage. He was the Charles W...
, a Professor of Education at Harvard, prevailed on the board to take a longer look. The BSA Research Service was tasked with conducting the necessary research. Larson, at the time a staff researcher for the National Council, traveled to California and observed the program's annual Indaba
Indaba
An indaba is an important conference held by the izinDuna of the Zulu and Xhosa peoples of South Africa. These indabas may include only the izinDuna of a particular community or may be held with representatives of other communities.The term comes from a Zulu...
at the Presidio of Monterey later that year. Larson and Bob Perin traveled from New Jersey to California repeatedly. They conducted a thorough study, interviewing participants, parents, and leaders. They distributed questionnaires to program participants, reviewed the White Stag literature, and observed the program in action. They also conducted a statistical analysis of troops taking part in White Stag and compared them to non-participating units. In December 1965, Chief Scout Executive Joseph Brunton
Joseph Brunton
Joseph A. Brunton, Jr. was a career professional for the Boy Scouts of America, and served the BSA National Council as the fourth Chief Scout Executive from 1960 to 1966.-BSA career:...
received the White Stag Report. It stated that offering leadership development to youth was a unique opportunity for Scouting to provide a practical benefit to youth and would add substantial support to Scouting's character development goals. It recommended that Wood Badge
Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)
Wood Badge is the highest level of adult Scout leader training available. It was first presented in England by the founder of Scouting, Baden Powell, and he introduced the program into the United States during a visit in 1936. The first course was held at the Mortimer L. Schiff Scout Reservation,...
should be used to implement the leadership development principles of White Stag.
There were a few on the National Staff who strongly resisted the change to how leaders and youth were trained, including "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt, who was loyal to the idea of teaching purely Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of woodcraft knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organizations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the...
skills and the Patrol Method at Wood Badge. While immensely respected for his many contributions to Scouting, Chief Scout Joseph Brunton
Joseph Brunton
Joseph A. Brunton, Jr. was a career professional for the Boy Scouts of America, and served the BSA National Council as the fourth Chief Scout Executive from 1960 to 1966.-BSA career:...
overruled Hillcourt's objections and approved adapting the White Stag leadership competencies for nationwide use. Over the next several years, Larson repeatedly visited the Monterey Peninsula to observe and evaluate the White Stag program. He worked with Perin and Bánáthy to adapt the White Stag leadership competencies. Larson wrote the first syllabus for the adult Wood Badge
Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)
Wood Badge is the highest level of adult Scout leader training available. It was first presented in England by the founder of Scouting, Baden Powell, and he introduced the program into the United States during a visit in 1936. The first course was held at the Mortimer L. Schiff Scout Reservation,...
program. Shifting from teaching primarily Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of woodcraft knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organizations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the...
skills to leadership competencies was a paradigm shift, changing the assumptions, concepts, practices, and values underlying how adults were trained in the skills of Scouting. The change paralleled a similar change in the point of view about how individuals learned leadership skills in society at large from that of trait theory
Trait theory
In psychology, Trait theory is a major approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion. According to this perspective, traits are relatively stable over...
based on inborn skills to transactional theory
Transactional leadership
Transactional leadership is a term used to classify a formally known group leadership theories that inquire the interactions between leaders and followers. A transactional leader focuses more on a series of "transactions"...
which stipulated that leadership skills could be acquired.
World Scouting publishes paper
The World Organization of the Scout MovementWorld Organization of the Scout Movement
The World Organization of the Scout Movement is the Non-governmental international organization which governs most national Scout Organizations, with 31 million members. WOSM was established in 1920, and has its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland...
published the results of the Boy Scouts of America's research and testing of the White Stag approach to leadership development. Béla Bánáthy
Béla H. Bánáthy
Béla Heinrich Bánáthy was a Hungarian linguist, systems scientist and a professor at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley. Bánáthy was the founder of the White Stag Leadership Development Program whose leadership model was adopted across the United States...
wrote a monograph Leadership Development: World Scouting Reference Paper No. 1, which he presented in 1969 to a meeting of the World Scout Conference in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. He advocated leadership development by design in Scouting based on the leadership competencies of White Stag.
In 1968, Salvador Fernández Beltrán
Salvador Fernández Beltrán
Salvador Fernández Beltrán D.J.C. was among the first in the Americas to receive Wood Badge training, at Gilwell Park, England. He was the first to receive honorary appointment as Deputy Camp Chief of Gilwell...
, Deputy Secretary of the World Organization of the Scout Movement
World Organization of the Scout Movement
The World Organization of the Scout Movement is the Non-governmental international organization which governs most national Scout Organizations, with 31 million members. WOSM was established in 1920, and has its headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland...
, visited camp during the summer program at Pico Blanco Scout Reservation
Pico Blanco Scout Reservation
Pico Blanco Scout Reservation is a summer camp of about in Central California, operated by the Monterey Bay Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Constructed during 1953-1954, it takes its name from the adjacent Pico Blanco . The land was donated to the Council by William R. Hearst in 1948...
. Leaders of the Mexican Scout movement asked Bánáthy to guide them in the adaptation of the White Stag program concept. Bánáthy was appointed to the Interamerican Scout Committee and participated in three Interamerican Train the Trainer events in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. He guided their national training teams in designing leadership development by design programs.
Junior leadership training mandated nationwide
In 1974, the changes in Wood BadgeWood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)
Wood Badge is the highest level of adult Scout leader training available. It was first presented in England by the founder of Scouting, Baden Powell, and he introduced the program into the United States during a visit in 1936. The first course was held at the Mortimer L. Schiff Scout Reservation,...
were migrated to a new junior leader training program which was implemented nationwide. Junior leader training programs had until that time focused primarily on Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of woodcraft knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organizations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the...
skills and teaching the Patrol Method. The new program marked the organization's shift from emphasizing Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of woodcraft knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organizations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the...
skills in training to teaching leadership skills and gave credit to White Stag for its origins. The Troop Leader Development program incorporated for the first time eleven specific competencies of leadership. The eleven competencies were adapted from the White Stag Leadership Development Program
White Stag Leadership Development Program
The White Stag Leadership Development Program is a non-profit organization that sponsors youth leadership development activities. Founded on the Monterey Peninsula, California, in 1958 by Dr. Béla H. Bánáthy, it traces its history to the 1933 World Jamboree in Gödöllő, Hungary, which took as its...
. According to the Boy Scout publication:
The junior leader training program incorporated for the first time eleven specific competencies of leadership. Prior junior leader training programs had focused primarily on Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft
Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of woodcraft knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organizations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the...
skills and the Patrol Method. The national JLT program extracted the leadership competencies from the White Stag program but did not adopt any of the other White Stag methods, including the spirit and traditions associated with the white stag
White stag
A white stag or white deer is a red deer with a condition known as leucism that causes its hair and skin to lose its natural colour. The white stag has played a prominent role in many cultures' mythology.-Biology:...
of Hungarian mythology
Hungarian mythology
Hungarian mythology includes the myths, legends, folk tales, fairy tales and gods of the Hungarians. Many parts of it are thought to be lost, i.e. only some texts remained which can be classified as a myth. However, a significant amount of Hungarian mythology was successfully recovered in the last...
. The national program also changed some of the terminology used to refer to the leadership competencies and identified the competencies as "Leadership Skills"
The program was later revised and renamed Troop Leader Training Conference and then Junior Leader Training Conference.
Back to basics program introduced
The Boy Scouts radically revised their handbook in 1972. The new handbook made learning outdoor skills optional for the three lower ranks and completely eliminated outdoor merit badges, including Camping, Cooking, Nature, Swimming, Lifesaving, from the required list for the higher three ranks. Under the new program, a Scout could reach First Class without hiking, camping or cooking over a fire. It was a disastrous failure for Scouting and membership plummeted.William Hillcourt came out of retirement and donated a year of his life to write the 9th Edition of the Scout Handbook. It returned to the traditional Scouting program and had a great deal in common with Hillcourt's earlier Handbooks (6th & 7th Editions). It included entire paragraphs and pictures reprinted verbatim from the earlier editions.
Brownsea II focuses on Scoutcraft
In 1976, the Boy Scouts introduced Brownsea II (Brownsea Double Two)) to supplement Troop Leadership Development. It was developed in reaction to the changes to Scouting, including the advancement rules that no longer required Scouts to take a hike before obtaining the first class rank. The week-long course, unlike the Troop Leadership Program, was a "back-to-basics" program for Senior Patrol Leaders that was "program- and action-oriented." It emphasized teaching and practicing Scout skills, the purposes of Scouting, and the role of the patrol method within the troop program. It's goals were to develop leadership by giving scouts opportunities to lead games that they could take back to the home troop, and by exposing the scout to a leadership development project called "The Brownsea Pioneering Project".Modifications implemented
In 1979, the next iteration of junior leader training was introduced in the Troop Leader Training Conference. It was published "to eventually replace Troop Leader Development (#6544) and also provide the ScoutcraftScoutcraft
Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of woodcraft knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organizations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the...
skills experiences of Brownsea Double Two." This paralleled a roll-back of an urban emphasis in Scouting which had removed mention of the word "campfire" from the 8th edition of the Boy Scout Handbook. Effective Teaching, formerly named Manager of Learning, was renamed to sound less academic.
While the stated aim was to consolidate the two programs, many councils continued to produce both programs or used elements from the previous programs. This resulted in growing inconsistency in how junior leader training was delivered nation-wide. In 1989 Pine Tree Camp, the Junior Leader Training Conference of the former Viking Council
Scouting in Minnesota
Scouting in Minnesota has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.-Boy Scouting in Minnesota today:...
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
was the proving grounds for a redesign of the Junior Leader Training Conference, a week-long leadership development program sponsored by local Councils for the top youth leaders of Scout troops.
In 1993, the Boy Scouts of America adapted the Pine Tree program's syllabus for national use. A team of volunteers revised the Junior Leader Training Conference, expanded each of the Scoutcraft activities to include learning objectives, added details of the games and contests, a list of materials and summary information. The national council also rewrote the leadership competencies Setting the Example, and to a lesser extent, Controlling the Group. A new concept called reflection was introduced. These sections of the syllabus suggested questions to assist the youth staff with drawing out from participants what they got out of a learning activity, to reinforce what they learned, and to help with evaluation at the end of each learning session.
The syllabus was revised once again in 1995 and renamed Junior Leader Training Conference Staff Guide. It presented modified versions of the eleven leadership competencies conceived of by Béla Bánáthy and still being presented by the White Stag program.
Program updated for nationwide use
After the Wood Badge program was updated in 2003, parallel changes were subsequently implemented that affected junior leader training. A junior leadership training Task Force was assembled during 2003-04 and undertook revisions to that program to bring it closer in alignment to the Wood Badge program. In 2003, the Boy Scouts pilot-tested a revised NYLT course in the Sam Houston Area Council under the name "Grey Wolf". Additional pilot courses were held in several BSA regions during 2004 and 2005. In 2005, they published the National Youth Leadership Training syllabus. Based on feedback from the youth themselves, the course was renamed using Youth in the title rather than Junior. The teens said they preferred the term "youth" over "junior", because "junior" gave the impression that the teens were not yet a leader where "youth' just described their age.After successful regional pilot courses, NYLT was mandated for use in place of all other junior leadership development programs in the nation. This created a standard of training that would be consistent around the country. The consistency is achieved by providing many of the programatic resources required by the program such as a DVD with pre-canned presentations and videos.
The content contained in the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
youth leadership training program has evolved as the business world's model of leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
theory have evolved. In the 1960s, concepts of participatory leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
were evolving from trait-based
Trait theory
In psychology, Trait theory is a major approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion. According to this perspective, traits are relatively stable over...
leadership to transaction-based
Transactional leadership
Transactional leadership is a term used to classify a formally known group leadership theories that inquire the interactions between leaders and followers. A transactional leader focuses more on a series of "transactions"...
models. The former included Rensis Likert
Rensis Likert
Rensis Likert was an American educator and organizational psychologist best known for his research on management styles...
's System 4 leadership model and the latter Blake and Moulton
Jane Mouton
Jane Srygley Mouton was a management theorist, remembered in particular for developing the Managerial grid model with Robert Blake.-Biography:...
's Managerial grid model
Managerial grid model
The managerial grid model is a behavioral leadership model developed by Robert R. Blake and Jane Mouton. This model originally identified five different leadership styles based on the concern for people and the concern for production. The optimal leadership style in this model is based on Theory...
. The Boy Scout's junior leader training program similarly evolved, adapting comparable principles from the White Stag program
White Stag Leadership Development Program
The White Stag Leadership Development Program is a non-profit organization that sponsors youth leadership development activities. Founded on the Monterey Peninsula, California, in 1958 by Dr. Béla H. Bánáthy, it traces its history to the 1933 World Jamboree in Gödöllő, Hungary, which took as its...
in the late 1960s.
Since then, the program has evolved to keep pace with changes to the adult Wood Badge
Wood Badge (Boy Scouts of America)
Wood Badge is the highest level of adult Scout leader training available. It was first presented in England by the founder of Scouting, Baden Powell, and he introduced the program into the United States during a visit in 1936. The first course was held at the Mortimer L. Schiff Scout Reservation,...
program, which now emphasizes the stages of team development based on the principles described by Bruce Tuckman
Bruce Tuckman
Bruce Wayne Tuckman is an American Psychologist, who has carried out research into the theory of group dynamics. In 1965, he published one of his theories called "Tuckman's Stages". In 1977, he added a fifth stage named Adjourning....
in 1965 as forming-storming-norming-performing
Forming-storming-norming-performing
The Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing model of group development was first proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965, who maintained that these phases are all necessary and inevitable in order for the team to grow, to face up to challenges, to tackle problems, to find solutions, to plan work, and...
.
Standardization
Recent revisions have emphasized that NYLT is a national program and strongly discouraged variation from the minute-by-minute agenda. Local councils are instructed to be sure that their courses comply with the NYLT syllabus. Councils were permitted for several years to add a local, traditional name like "Pine Tree", "Silver Bear", or "Golden Acorn" to the NYLT course name, a practice which many councils had engaged in for a number of years. In 2009, the National council modified this stance and forbid councils to use any name but NYLT for the program. Not all councils adhere to this requirement. The Northern Star CouncilNorthern Star Council
Northern Star Council is a Boy Scout Council headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The council was formally the Viking Council and Indianhead Council until the two councils merged on July 1, 2005...
still calls their program "Grey Wolf", the Mecklenburg County Council still calls their course "Top Gun National Youth Leadership Training", and the San Francisco Bay Area Council still informally refers to their program as "Brownsea NYLT".
Experimental course
NYLT Leadership AcademyYouth Staff Development Course
The National Youth Leadership Training Leadership Academy is a program of the Northeast Region of the Boy Scouts of America that trains youth staff members for council level National Youth Leadership Training courses...
is a pilot program conducted by the Northeast Region that trains youth staff members for council-level NYLT courses. NLA is in the development phase and may eventually be offered in each of the four regions.