Teens know their stuff

Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

Here are the winners of $1,000 scholarships at the Sun Youth Forum, including name, high school and the college they plan to attend:

College choice: UNR

Jacob Freeman

Las Vegas High School

College choice: UNLV

Roxane Garcia

Cimarron-Memorial High School

College choice: UNLV/UNR

Karalyn Hastings

Del Sol High School

College choice: BYU

Chelsey Hilton

Del Sol High School

College choice: BYU/UNLV

Dai Nghia Khuong

Desert Pines High School

College choice: Duquesne

Mariah Kingman

Foothill High School

College choice: Northern Arizona University

Kameron Kirk

Advanced Technologies Academy

College choice: MIT

Brad Limov

Advanced Technologies Academy

College choice: Colorado College

Veronica Montano

Bonanza High School

College choice: USC

Victoria Vu

Basic High School

College choice: UNLV

Here are the high school students who were selected by their peers as Sun Youth Forum finalists from seven discussion groups (Around the World, America, Home in Nevada, School Days, Teen Topics, Law and Crime, Potpourri):

These six students will write for the Sun's "Where I Stand" column on their groups' issues:

These six students will appear on a televised discussion panel for UNLV's Hank Greenspun School of Communications:

Erica Bobak

Bishop Gorman HS

Rita Heaton

A-Tech

Chiara Martel

Liberty HS

Noah McKay

Spring Valley HS

Christine Moore

A-Tech

Vgo Ndukwu

CCHS South

These five students will write columns about their group's issues for the student publication CLASS!:

Christopher Lee

Bonanza HS

Earl Saulter

Western HS

Jessica Sawyer

Spring Valley HS

Ryan Saxe

Meadows HS

Lizzie Schleuning

Silverado HS

These four students will appear on a statewide radio show sponsored by the Nevada Broadcasters Association to discuss their groups' issues:

Domonique Brown

Durango HS

Corey Jokerst

Cimarron Memorial

Zachary Moncrief

Centennial HS

Corey Paris

Shadow Ridge HS

Here are the results of an informal survey of 100 of the 966 high school students who took part in the 2007 Sun Youth Forum on Tuesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center:

If the presidential election were held today, whom would you vote for?

Barack Obama: 39

Hillary Clinton: 22

Rudy Giuliani: 12

Mitt Romney: 8

Mike Huckabee: 6

John Edwards: 4

Dennis Kucinich: 2

Bill Richardson: 2

John McCain: 1

Ron Paul: 1

Undecided: 3

Should the United States stay in Iraq or pull out quickly?

Pull out: 54

Stay: 38

Don't know: 8

Do you support the Nevada Education Association's proposal to increase taxes on the gaming industry to raise money for schools? Yes: 87

No: 6

Don't know: 7

If Gov. Jim Gibbons must cut funding in the state's budget, what area should receive the most protection?

K-12 education: 56

Social services: 22

Higher education: 18

Don't know: 4

Should the gaming industry have to pay higher taxes to raise funding for schools? How is Southern Nevada managing growth? And do you think Las Vegas would benefit from a major league sports team?

These are just a few of the questions debated by the best and the brightest of Southern Nevada's high school students at the 2007 Sun Youth Forum. More than 950 students from 45 high schools took part in the forum, held Tuesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

And many of their answers suggest that adults should stop worrying so much about the values and concerns of today's youth. Judging by the high quality of the debate and students' thoughtful responses, it appears that our future may be in very good hands.

"People think we're a bunch of gangbangers," said Canyon Springs High School student Joseph Dimitrov, who believes the forum provides him and his classmates the opportunity to prove their mettle.

"You can see that we're not. We are intellectual, and we know what we're talking about."

On the Nevada Education Association's proposal to increase taxes on the gaming industry as a way of raising funding for schools, Kristen Arn, a senior at Green Valley High, said, "A lot of gaming companies came to Nevada because of the lower taxes. The more fair thing to do would be to have a corporate income tax for all businesses across the board, and not just target casinos."

On the other hand, "casinos make a lot of money off of people. They should do more for the community. Helping the schools is one way for them to do that," said Keenen Shumpert, a senior at Western High School.

Late Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun imagined the Sun Youth Forum in 1955 and the first group of students gathered the following year. Adults weren't doing enough listening, Greenspun said, and too many young voices were going unheard.

The purpose of the event is to give students an opportunity to express opinions on the issues of the day, and Tuesday, "they certainly did that," said Brian Cram, director of the Greenspun Family Foundation and the Sun Youth Forum and former superintendent of the Clark County School District.

The event, Cram said, serves as a yearly tribute to its founder, who believed in the right of children "to openly, honestly and freely express their opinions."

Greenspun's son Brian was an early youth forum participant and today is president and editor of the Sun. Along with his brother, Daniel, chairman of the Greenspun Media Group, he served as a moderator at Tuesday's event.

Other moderators were drawn from nearly every facet of the community, including School Board members, U.S. District Judge Philip Pro and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

"The students are not shy about expressing their opinions," said Berkley, who participated in the event in 1967 and 1968. "I'm always inspired by these kids and the lively discussions."

Over the course of the day the debate often grew heated - but civility still reigned.

In an argument over how Southern Nevada is managing its growth, the anti-development forces came out swinging.

"Red Rock was a beautiful area where you could get away from everything," said Rene Sanchez, a senior at Durango High. "Now you go out there and see a bunch of houses. We have to protect those places."

While Sanchez was on the side of the flora, Casee Clark, a senior at Basic High School, fought for the fauna. "I can't count how many dogs have been killed by coyotes in my neighborhood. We have to stop building on top of the wildlife. Let's put more effort into renovating older neighborhoods and building downtown."

The point of the forum is to get kids talking among themselves and to broaden their perspectives, Brian Greenspun said.

"This is an opportunity to talk and listen in a respectful manner," he said. "Sometimes you even leave here with a new point of view."

Since its inception, the forum has been in partnership with the Clark County School District. In 2004 the event was added to the district's Excellence in Education Hall of Fame.

Valley High School teacher George Chamberlin said he was impressed by the level of discussion among this year's participants.

Even when it wandered from the pressing international and national issues of our times - such as war, immigration and the environment - to focus on a pressing local issue: sports.

And just in case you think all high school students are gung-ho for local a sports team, think again.

Although Gershon Levy, as senior at Meadows School, said a major league team "would help with community pride and unify us," Sadie Rosenberg, a senior at Valley High, thought there were better uses for public money.

"Why should we spend the money on that when there are so many other issues?" she said. "Solving problems with health care and education should come first."

All of it seemed to make Chamberlin proud.

"There's hope for the future - not just the Las Vegas Valley but for this generation of youth in general," said Chamberlin, a Sun Youth Forum participant in 1982. "These kids are some of the shining stars."