Five members of Crew 42 participated in Week 1 of Chief Seattle Council's 2012 NYLT course at Camp Sheppard, near Mt. Rainier.  The Crew sent youth members Sam R, Melissa W, Zach F, Sam G, and Daria F. Daria attended the course as a participant. The rest served as staff members.  Melissa and SamG  served as Team Guides, which means they were in charge of a team of seven participants. Sam R served as an Assistant Course Leader and Zach was the Course Leader - the youth responsible for organizing the entire course.

For those who don't know already, NYLT stands for National Youth Leadership Training.  It's a six day course that teaches Boy Scouts and Venturers essential leadership skills that they can use with their home units or in their everyday lives. The course was almost completely youth led by the fifteen youth staff members. There were about fifty youth participants during week one.

In order to become an NYLT youth staff member, you normally have to go through the course as a participant first. You have to either apply for a staff position, or be invited by a course director.  The youth staff had to go through several staff development weekend trainings in order to prepare for the course.  The staff had to do a lot of work to prepare for the week, but it was definitely worth it. Everything went smoothly, we had loads of fun, and being on staff is totally free!

[Ed Note: two more Crew members, Nat W and Nick W, will attend the 2nd session of NYLT in August as a participant and a staff member, respectively]