Junior National Young Leaders Conference

The Junior National Young Leaders Conference or JrNYLC is a program for students entering 6th and 7th grade that takes place in the summer and fall in Washington, D.C., with an optional alumni conference in Boston the following year. It is a conference in which young scholars from all over the United States learn about leadership through the lens of American History. Students stay in either hotels or conference centers for six days and visit museums throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area as well as many historical sites including the Vietnam Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Students are divided up among different groups; each named after one of the six leadership traits they study during the conference (goal-setting, teamwork, respect, communication, problem-solving, and character).The Junior National Young Leaders Conference is part of the Congressional Youth Leadership Council (CYLC), which also holds conferences for scholars in high school both in the United States and abroad.

Nomination Techniques

Nomination is based upon a student's grades and leadership potential by their teachers. Nomination is not limited to a certain number of students within a school.

Experience

Part of the experience in the program is meeting other people. Depending on the student's grade level he/she will be staying at different halls. The buildings are gender based, (i.e, 1st and 2nd floor belong to females. 3rd and 4th floor belong to males). Each of the 6 days at the program have a theme. Also this is an excellent responsibility opportunity because students must remember what their schedule is for that day, where dining hall, recreation room are located. One specific rule of the bedroom halls is no females in the males and vice versa. The Scholars will explore and evaluate critical leadership traits that were exemplified during the specific events and time periods in the colonial American history, formulate personal leadership goals for future endeavors in their schools and communities, apply their knowledge of leadership traits and American history to synthesize events of the past and form hypotheses for the future, analyze decisions of individuals and groups and evaluate consequences, analyze issues by summarizing the issue, evaluating different view points and drawing conclusions based on observations, practice and assess the leadership skills of communication, goal setting, problem solving, team work, respect and character and will work independently and cooperatively to achieve goals. The curfew is at 10:00 p.m. The only way you can meet with your relatives, friends, etc is to have pre-arranged through a written request from the parent or guardian and turn it in to the Associate Director of Programs in the JrNYLC office. You must wear your name badges at all times. When you arrive at the Hotel at which you are staying at you get in a line and tell the person what your name is, then they give you your room key and identification badge. Your badge serves as an I.D. and a meal ticket. You are in charge of budgeting your money. Ordering food from room service is strictly forbidden. The Dress guidelines are dresses/medium length skirts/khakis and blouses/sweaters for ladies and khakis/dress slacks and collared shirts/polos for gentlemen. When they do allow Casual Attire you can wear jeans, T-shirts, tennis shoes, etc. but must be appropriate. Day's 1 and 6 are khaki pants and white t-shirts. Days 2 through 5 are relaxed professional. In Alumni Boston they assign you a SMARTER chart as a pre-assignment. Smarter chart can be seen below

Goals of JrNYLC Alumni Boston

* To extend and refine key concepts of leadership, communication, character, goal setting, respect, problem solving and teamwork.

* To analyze the impact of leadership on historical events

* To evaluate ways to make a difference in school and community

* To apply leadership skills in an authentic contest

Transportation

Every morning around 7:00 a.m. students leave dormitory rooms to head for the dining hall. Once at the dining hall, students are separated into different buses. These buses come with restrooms, and Digital Versatile Disc(DVD) players.