Where They Stood: Former Sun Youth Forum participants recall opinions from high school years

Monday, Nov. 24, 2003 | 8:30 a.m.

In 1966 football fans were gearing up for the first Super Bowl, "Star Trek" premiered on network television and bodies were piling up in Vietnam.

Nearly 40 years later Bill Duca still remembers what was on his mind: a guy named George Montgomery, a four-year, four-letter, stellar student who graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1965.

"When we came to school, he was like a God," Duca said. "In the fall of 1966 when students returned to school, this guy had already gone to Vietnam and gotten killed.

"Every single guy in my class (of 1967) had two years to think about that. It was a wake-up call. Every night on the news they'd give you a body count."

Still, in a column written for the Las Vegas Sun after he attended the 1966 Sun Youth Forum, Duca said that he and his classmates supported the troops.

"We decided unanimously ... that we should escalate the war in Vietnam," Duca wrote. "Our decision was ironic in that the majority of the people voting were boys."

Looking back, Duca said, "This was '66 and it was still a patriotic thing. It wasn't until later on that we started questioning what we were doing over there." Now a Boulder City resident and third-generation craps dealer at The Mirage, Duca is among hundreds who have attended the annual Sun Youth Forum over the years.

Held in conjunction with the Clark County School District, the forum was established by Sun founder Hank Greenspun and three Sun employees in 1955 to give a voice to local youth. In its first year 96 students attended. Some years drew more than 1,000 students.

"What impressed me was not just that we got to talk, but that people were listening to what we had to say," said John Burger, a 1971 graduate of Valley High School who attended the Sun Youth Forum his senior year.

"You're moving from putting a test in front of you to a point where you have to think independently. It's a time when you by necessity gain confidence that some day you might influence the society you live in."

On Tuesday 900 students from area high schools will file into the Las Vegas Convention Center, as their predecessors have done for years. They will debate education, law, crime, local, national and world issues and topics of particular interest to teens.

Finalists, nominated by their peers, will voice their discussions in Where I Stand columns, scheduled to run in the Las Vegas Sun in December.

Burger, an architect now living in Chicago, suggested in a column more than 30 years ago to turn Fremont Street into a pedestrian mall. He also recommended a monorail be used as a means of public transportation.

With a laugh, Burger said via cell phone from Chicago, "I'm so glad they took my advice on those things."

Weighing the topics

Discussions over the years have been about black American athletes demonstrating at the 1968 Olympics, relations between Israel and the PLO, the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of the United Nations and whether the U.N. should admit Red China. Judging by their work, students were predominantly liberal-minded, suggesting easier access to birth control and legalization of marijuana and gay marriage.

Issues ranged from the politically monumental to the trivial. Many were developing their voices. For others, it was the first time they were being heard by their elders.

Sen. Harry Reid and Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt attended as students in the forum's early years. Reid moderated the forum groups several times, as did former Sen. Richard Bryan.

"I was so impressed that a politician would spend that time with us," said local attorney James Silvestri, a former Bishop Gorman High School student who attended the forum in 1977. "Every room had somebody important. It gave us a chance to think about growing up."

Through the years

Ruthe Deskin, longtime Sun columnist and assistant to the publisher, was one of the founders of the forum.

"When we started, I didn't think we ever dreamed it would ever continue on like this," Deskin said. "At first we were just amazed at the enthusiasm the kids showed for it. We wanted them to be able to discuss all kinds of subjects, anything they wanted. They sort of picked their own topics."

Some topics repeated themselves, some were resolved, others represented a unique time in American history.

In 1972 Gilbert Martin from Valley High wrote about students weighing advantages and disadvantages if a proposed 12-month school year were adopted.

After a 1968 forum discussing the Summer Olympic "black power" demonstration made by American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos during a medals ceremony, Lewis Grimes wrote, "We decided that the action of the athletes were political and were meant to embarrass America in the eyes of the world."

In 1993 Cimarron-Memorial High School student Andres Mendoza wrote that students wondered how the world was "going to make Saddam follow U.N. regulations."

Delia Martinez wrote in 1965 that Nevada is in "great need of better equipment and conditions for the mentally ill.

"In our state, only 3 percent of the budget goes for the aid of the mentally ill," she wrote.

That same year Dick West explained that students believed our country "seems to be placing paramount importance on reaching the moon before the Russians."

The 1980s prompted debate about AIDS. By 2002 students were discussing 9-11.

Changing viewpoints

After reading his 1980 column, John Penuelas, a former Boulder City High School student, said, "It was insightful in some ways, naive in others."

In the column, Penuelas suggested, "With the proper military support from the United States, the role of Israel can, and should, be one of stability and peace echoing throughout the Middle East. Unfortunately, this opinion was not shared by most of my peers."

"Just thinking that a bunch of high schoolers could come up with answers in a three-hour talk is silly, really," Penuelas said.

But, he added, the experience students walked away with was invaluable.

"I'm glad they're still doing it," said Penuelas, who is a traffic engineer for Clark County. "I was politically interested. My uncle had done it in the '60s. I read a lot. Afghanistan was just invaded so it was an interesting time."

At Silvestri's forum, teens discussed how legalized gambling in other states would affect Nevada and suggested alternatives to gambling by improving recreational areas and possibly building an amusement park.

"The points of an amusement park and the revamping of our two nature spots were put down by several who said that they would not be major attractions," Silvestri wrote.

Looking back, Silvestri said with a laugh, "We were way out in front of the curve. (Kirk) Kerkorian must have read our article."

Learning curve

When Dara Marias attended the conference in 1986, she had already seen much of the world while traveling with her family. After high school she attended Georgetown University to study foreign service and earned a master's degree in social work. Today she is a stay-at-home mom and does legal consulting work out of her home.

"Things are very black and white when you're in high school," said Marias, whose last name was Caplan in high school. "It's not as clear-cut. Now that you're older, things are sort of gray.

"It's part of the growing process. You're finding your values. As you get older, you're able to see both sides of the coin."

Marias' group discussed foreign relations, notably the Iran arms deal and Contra aid. Students believed trading arms for hostages in Iran condoned terrorist actions, Marias wrote, adding later, "most students reluctantly agreed that the U.N. will never be effective."

Still liberal-minded, Marias said, "I have a better appreciation for all sides of things now. That's just life. As you live more, you're able to see more and understand more ... people in other shoes."

Lines of communication

Scott Beckett's opinions on education not only remained, but were enhanced once he entered the field.

The Western High School student attended a 1991 forum on education where he and his peers discussed, among other topics, homosexual teachers.

Some students believed that having a "homosexual role model for students is not conducive to the learning environment," Beckett wrote in his column.

"However, opposing students felt that what matters in the classroom is not whether a teacher is white or black, male or female, heterosexual or homosexual, but that the material covered and the way it is presented should be the overriding concern of the student."

Regarding the latter, Beckett, a former high school teacher who now works as a management consultant in Southern California, said, "Having been an educator, that's something I definitely agree with.

"Almost anyone can be a role model and have underlying tendencies that makes somebody a good person, regardless of background."

Beckett said educators should strive to be well-rounded communicators.

"One of the things I'm troubled by today ... is the number of teachers who aren't worldly, aren't good thinkers, aren't good communicators," he said.

Good communication is what former Chaparral High School student David Guedry said he learned at the 1976 Sun Youth Forum. His group debated the estate of Howard Hughes.

The students had agreed, Guedry wrote, "Nevada should be more aggressive in establishing the state as Hughes' legal residence, thus eliminating the possibility that an outside group would not share the same interests ... in Hughes' Nevada holdings as Nevada would."

Now an attorney in Dallas, Guedry remembers most from the forum the opportunity to talk with students of varying opinions.

"It made me approach group discussion much differently," Guedry said. "It was a great group and great to get together and talk."

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