Forum’s birth year listed as 1955 for good reason

Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005 | 9:56 a.m.

"The Sun Youth Forum put me in front of my peers and taught me that I had something to say and that others would listen. I attribute much of my professional success to that seed that was planted 25 years ago."

-- Jamie Cortez, teacher, Robert Taylor Elementary School, who participated in the 1979 forum as a student from Vo-Tech High School.

"I was part of the Sun Youth Forum in 1992 and have been a Sun Youth Forum adviser for six years. It is so much fun to prepare the kids for this great experience and share stories from when I was a kid."

-- Laura Gault, social studies chairwoman, Liberty High School

"I participated in the Sun Youth Forum as a student representative from Valley High School (in 1966 and 1967). The sessions were lively and informative and the topics sometimes hotly debated. The Sun Youth Forum is a wonderful opportunity to learn from our students. They continue to inspire me with their knowledge, intelligence and heartfelt passion for the issues."

-- Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who has served as a forum moderator.

"Hank Greenspun presented us with what were highly controversial topics at the time and encouraged us to think for ourselves. Today, I am a teacher in Lincoln County. I too encourage my students to think for themselves. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than to have a youngster unafraid to express opinions on any issue, no matter how controversial."

-- Mike Prince, who participated in first Sun Youth Forum in 1956 as a junior at Rancho High.

"Activities like the Sun Youth Forum created an opportunity for the various students to share thoughts ... establish friendships based on common values and interests and have their views shaped and tested by ... contemporaries."

-- Frank Merola, a Los Angeles attorney, who participated in the 1980 forum as a Bonanza High senior.

"One of the highlights of my high school years was the Sun Youth Forum in 1962. Our topic concerned equal rights. Equal rights became my priority in the workplace in the treatment of both the employees I supervised and the employees I worked with."

-- Shirley Johnson Edmond, retired supervisor of distribution operations for the U.S. Postal Service, who participated as a Western High senior.

Every piece of commemorative memorabilia for the Sun Youth Forum over the last 50 years lists 1955 as its inception, though the first forum was held in 1956.

It is not a mistake.

Late Sun Assistant to the Publisher Ruthe Deskin, the forum's founding director, decided long ago to commemorate as the initial year the occasion when late Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun shared his dream with senior staff members.

"My mother said the yearlong planning that went into putting on the first forum was so important it needed to be counted from a historical perspective," said Nancy Cummings, one of Deskin's two daughters.

Deskin died last year after 48 years of involvement in the forum, the first 43 as director and five as an adviser. Sun Vice President Sandra Thompson, who was killed in a 2002 automobile accident, did the job for four years. Longtime Sun employee Sheila Dillon has coordinated the event the last three years.

In her Oct. 4, 2001, Sun column, Deskin recalled the 1955 meeting in which the Youth Forum was born.

"Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun called a meeting of staff members and told them he wanted a program for high school students where they could express their opinions freely," Deskin wrote.

"The original planners, (Sun reporter) Adam Yacenda, (Sun Managing Editor) Ray Germain and this writer, enlisted the aid of Harvey Dondero (then assistant superintendent) of the Clark County School District and developed a format." Despite the amount of time and effort Deskin put in to directing the event, she always prefaced her comments by crediting the many community leaders who served as moderators, the School District for its cosponsorship and the sustainers from the Junior League who have registered student participants since 1956.

Brian Cram, director of the Greenspun Family Foundation, says with an event of such magnitude it takes the work of many to assure that all have their say.

"The Sun Youth Forum is a testament to people like Ruthe Deskin, Sandy Thompson, (late Sun Chairman and former Nevada Governor) Mike O'Callaghan, the Greenspun family and others who felt that individual citizens have important things to say and that they have a right to be heard," Cram said.

Janice Haupt Allen, twotime past president of the Junior League, a Youth Forum moderator for 25 years and chairman of the sustainers, says that in the end, it all comes down to the kids.

"The real success in the forum is the students -- they made it the nationally acclaimed program it is," she said. " The Sun Youth Forum shows the world that Las Vegas is more than just the Strip, gamblers and showgirls."

Allen said some fellow Junior League members have been participating in the forum for several decades, including Romietta Hawkins, B.J. Stevenson, Mary Laub, Donna Andress, Linda Givens, Peggy Cladouhos, Debbie Levy and Dondero's widow, former Clark County Commissioner Thalia Dondero.

"So many people have been involved in the Sun Youth Forum that it has become a true community event," Deskin wrote.

Ed Koch can be reached at (702) 2594090 or at koch@lasvegassun.com.