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Friday, Nov. 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Youth Forum
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Hundreds of local high school students gathered at the Las Vegas Convention Center Tuesday for the annual Sun Youth Forum. For several hours, students engaged in debates and discussions with each other on numerous topics about local and world affairs. Student discussions were led by moderators who are leaders in the community.
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At the Sun Youth Forum this week, 100 students were asked whether they planned on living in Nevada as adults.
Although the findings are unscientific, Clark County’s top high school students were overwhelmingly in favor of getting out of Dodge. Only 11 students said they envisioned building their futures in the Silver State.
This didn’t sit well with state Sen. Joyce Woodhouse, D-Henderson, a moderator at Tuesday’s forum at the Las Vegas Convention Center. “Maybe when they get to college they’ll see the value of coming home and giving back, whether it’s in education, public safety or elective office someday.”
Nevada will eventually rebound from the recession, and “we’re going to need all these wonderful young people,” Woodhouse said.
Cheyenne High School junior Gatsby Darwin suggested she might be doing Nevada a favor by spending her adult life elsewhere, as she intends.
“We’re counting on population growth, but we don’t have the resources to support the people who are already here,” Gatsby said. “I just don’t think that’s right.”
She’s also angry about steep budget cuts to public education in recent years, and wonders what opportunities for learning she’s missed.
“I probably didn’t get the best education I could have gotten,” Gatsby said. “And that’s upsetting to me.”
She would like to be able to send her child to school in a state ranked in the top 10 for education, Gatsby said, “and not 49th.”
Ashley Roberts, a junior at Green Valley High School, said her future plans aren’t entirely up to her. Outside factors, including economic pressures on her family, are also part of the equation.
“I don’t know where I’m going to be in two or three years,” Ashley said. “That worries me.”
Her grandmother is a registered nurse who recently lost her job. She was able to find another position — but for fewer hours and less pay.
“You would think doctors and nurses would be pretty secure,” Ashley said. “I want to go into a related field, so that’s a concern for me.”
Ashley plans on studying psychology at UNLV before heading east for her master’s degree.
She can envision coming back home if she were to find a good job in her field. Another useful lure: if Las Vegas were more family-friendly, Ashley said, it would be easier for her and many of her peers to envision raising their children here.
And, she added with a laugh, “a beach would be nice.”
To Aurora Roach, a junior at Las Vegas High School, job security has become a more important priority in recent months. She’s watched her father, who is self-employed, struggle with the loss of most of his regular clients.
“I want to do a lot of things and go a lot of places, but I don’t want to work for myself,” Aurora said. “It’s too unstable.”
A senior at Spring Valley High School, Jordon Roberts wants to be a lawyer someday. His first choices for college are out of state, but he’d like to come back to Las Vegas and build a life.
“My family is here,” Jordon said. “But I might have to go where I can find the best job.”
State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, who was a Sun Youth Forum participant in 1990 and a moderator at this year’s event, said he wasn’t surprised by the poll results showing the overwhelming majority of students didn’t intend to live in Nevada as adults. Horsford said he probably would have given the same answer when he was graduating Clark High School.
He added, “At their age, seeing more of the world isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Hopefully they’ll learn Las Vegas offers many things that other places don’t have, and they’ll come back.”
The real challenge, Horsford said, is “making sure opportunities exist for them, so they’ll see calling Nevada home is a good thing.”
This state is a 1 trick pony economy it's not surprising that later on those students will live in other states.
When your university is known as Mafia U..it's hard to take it to serious...as you know by the slogan what grows up in Vegas...leaves.
I'm never surprised by how many people here love to write these messages demeaning everything Las Vegas.
If you can't stand Las Vegas, it really makes no sense that you read these articles concerning it or more importantly, why you may choose to live here.
Mafia U??? Where did you come up this? People call UNLV a lot of things, but this one you just made up.
At the end of the day UNLV can get you into any grad school in the country.
No, actually gorebs97 UNLV is a BAD academic institution - particularly for undergraduates.
According to Forbes, UNLV recently failed to rank in the top 500 colleges and universities in the United Sates.
Budget cuts, bloated administration, a "Jock U" mentality, and poorly prepared students graduating for CCSD have all conspired to make UNLV a BAD academic institution.
If you are a graduate from CCSD (with good grades!), you'd be better served going to Southern Utah University, Dixie State College, Arziona State, or if you really want to build a life in Nevada...University of Nevada Reno.
It will be interesting to see what over all per centages actually leaves the state. Not just talk about it.
UNLV = University of Never Leave Vegas.
Really? OG, you should try this new website, it's called google.
The list has been out for only two years and UNLV has been named on it twice. UNR has been named on it only once.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/aug...
According to this article, in 2009 UNLV was 486, while UNR was 406. In 2008, UNLV was ranked 393, while UNR wasn't ranked.
Someone should let the grad school I'm at that a UNLV grad shouldn't be in a school with students that went to Penn and Johns Hopkins. Maybe they were so impressed with UNLV's 393 ranking by Forebes, the gospel to the world, that they couldn't say no. By the way, UNLV grad school turned me down.
OG, UNR and UNLV are both not UCLA, but at least UNLV students understand that.
A senior at Spring Valley High School, Jordon Roberts wants to be a lawyer someday. His first choices for college are out of state, but he'd like to come back to Las Vegas and build a life.
_____________
Yep, that's what this country needs more of, lawyers.
In the Kolkhoz (Commune) of Nevada there are only communal responsibilities available for young Komsomols. In other words there are only Government Commissar jobs available.
Those still desiring to be employed in bourgeois enterprises will be abandoned.
State Senate Majority Leader "Commissar" Steven Horsford, our notably Leftist political leader, no doubt approves of this.
I know a cute hooker, a 20 year-old high schooler with twin 800s on her verbal and math; she made $4500 on Thanksgiving enabling her two kids and herself to stash half in the ol' mattress and put away the rest in mutual funds, college fund and books.
As her fiduciary, my advice to her has been to keep up the good work, finish school and then take a course in the field of endeavor she finds stimulating and satisfying in the long run.
She tells me that the best thing for her is stay here in Vegas, slam some ham for a few more years and then travel. We took a few trips to places I thought would be beneficial for her to see: London, Amsterdam, Rome, Vienna, Hong Kong, Bali, Manilla and Calcutta along with several domestic and American destinations. Her favorite so far? Amsterdam hands down.
Reasons? Handsome men with class. Plenty of opportunity. Legal buds. Canals. Fog. Architecture.
The reason why so many young people leave Las Vegas has to do with what Las Vegas is, or, more like what it isn't.
The obvious lack of a diverse economy pretty well sums it up in a nutshell.
Not everybody wants to park cars, deal cards, or dance topless for a living. Sure you can make OK money doing those things and they're the kind of jobs high school dropouts need to make a living here in Las Vegas.
Kids wanting more from life than that of a high school dropout have no prospects here in Las Vegas, so they go elsewhere.
When local politicians finally allow the city of Las Vegas to grow up, into a real city, will things finally change for the better.
gorebs97 I can appreciate your dedication to your school,but you are wrong. There are employers in Las Vegas who discard resumes and applications from UNLV students. An undergradute degree from UNLV means an applicant to another graducate school's program will be scutinized closer than others if not denied.
The facts are UNR simply is a better school with a better experience for students.
Loyality is nice facts are better.
Homer, I'm not claiming that UNLV is an amazing university to receive an UG degree from. In fact, I certainly do understand that employers disregard applications from UNLV students. At UNLV I had a professor explain to the class that employers were not interested in hiring UNLV students. Hence, the reason why I decided I needed to go to grad school.
My first point is that I don't understand why people posts negative things about the place they live. I currently go to school in Pittsburgh and I personally can't stand living here. That doesn't mean I sit around and tell people that I think this place sucks. My second point was that OG didn't know what he/she was talking about it.
Do you honestly believe that the same people that turn away UNLV graduates, have a preference to hire UNR graduates? They are going to hire neiter. UNR is not USC, UCLA, Cal...
Ohh well, UNR must teach a first year class to students that indoctrinates them with the belief that they are academically superior to UNLV students.
By the way, what facts were you providing? Better experience for students? sure...
No worries. I'm from Utah (a family-friendly state with low unemployment). I'm studying law at UNLV. I fully intend on staying here when I'm done and with that I bring my family friendly values and excellent academic record, both high school and undergrad. In other words, I'm a replacement who'll gladly take these kids place.
I wonder where Servant of the People Horsford parked?
These are smart kids.
This town is not a good place for a college educated person to stay and raise a family. There are just not the same diverse opportunities economically here. That is not to say that Las Vegas does not have its charms, just not the kind that more educated people tend to like in the long run. Hence the lack of people with undergraduate degrees here compared to elsewhere. <%20 compared to other major cities that have more fully developed economies like San Diego, Seattle, even Sacramento broke 20%.
As far as the UNLV discussion goes. It's not a great school, but it's also not abysmal. It really depends on which department you are in.
@gorebs97 concerning the negativity here. I have lived in a lot of places and I've never lived anywhere where people don't bitch about their town, especially people from somewhere else. Since that makes up 90% of Las Vegas, it's not surprising that people don't like it here. It's a cold, unfriendly city with a shaky economic foundation. When people are alienated and broke they get bitchy... People move here for a better life and few get it. Can you blame them? And it's not so easy to pack up and leave when you can't even find work.
This state is so devoid of political and economic leadership even our meagerly educated high school students are getting it. The late great state of Nevada...
"This state is so devoid of political and economic leadership even our meagerly educated high school students are getting it. The late great state of Nevada..."
amen.
sand for sale. get-rich-quick gambling casinos with booze, babes and gluttony going on the buffets. Kids that can think walk away; kids with scholarships run.
These smart kids need to get as far away from this State as possible! They can go to the North East, or Southwest Los Angeles/San Diego areas, or even up to Seattle, and do much better than the low class garbage jobs available here in Vegas and Reno. A mind is a terrible thing to waste!!
RHG
"Yep, that's what this country needs more of, lawyers"
supply and demand my friend
peace out
planetearthcalling
"Not everybody wants to park cars, deal cards, or dance topless for a living. Sure you can make OK money doing those things"
OK money??
my neighbour is a valet at mandalay,and made 90,000 last year.I come from a rather educated state that has higher payrolls than others,AND 60,000 was considered a good living.HELL for 90,000 to park a Fing car,I can see why some inspire to that.
peace out
The primary purpose for any child is to become a good citizen and be a value to their community. However, we cannot expect our kids to reach such goals when we neglect the teachers of the community.The salary of a teacher in Las Vegas is an insult and though many teachers remain loyal and determined to make am impact on our youth through mentoring and being role models for a future generation. We as a community seem to show little or no appreciation for their efforts.I will assure you that many of our finest teachers go unnoticed.To see a school system marked "F" in the educational grading system does not reflect the heart or lack of effort by most teachers of Las Vegas.until the city and its leaders place a value on family, a child's worth and not place priority solely on gearing up for the next catchy Marketing campaign to attract tourist.This sense of detachment will continue to make our youth feel uninspired by our slow efforts on fixing the problem here in Las Vegas. It truly speaks volumes that these kids see that they are not of value or feel important to this city and the leaders of Las Vegas. If these kids comments do not catch our leaders attention, nothing will. I say to them all leave with no regrets, but if the city and leaders rally around a marketing campaign to say that they care about our youths' future then I say to these bright and outstanding youth stay and be part of the change.
The ball is in the city and our leaders hands, it is time they stop passing the buck and listen to the heart of our future, our children. It is time to stop asking those passionate teachers, a few small businesses and a handful of citizens to carry Las Vegas on its shoulders when many Casinos would spend millions to build another casino rather than invest in the future leaders of tomorrow. We can learn a valuable lesson from this recession, that the heart never lies. What you put out is what you get back in return. Let us make our mark on the youth here in Las Vegas, by offering solutions and opportunities, rather than accepting our ranking as 49th in the educational system. We are the entertainment capital of the world, there is nothing we cannot do if we come together as a united front.We must make a stand to provide our children a quality education and a better life here in Las Vegas. Las Vegas should be leaders in education, health care, and become an inspiration to tomorrow's leaders.
There are reasons why people choose to live in Las Vegas. Namely, the weather. Have you ever lived in the Northeast, Northwest, or the Midwest or Plains states? I have. I have an advanced degree and while I think this city and state is populated by selfish, under-educated idiots--and reading most of the comments to this paper and the RJ make my stomach turn--my family is living here for the weather.
The sad part about it is when these kids leave here they are going to think they have what it takes to make it in College or the Workplace. WRONG !! They are going be trying to catch up to the standard. Nevada shcols are some of the worst in the country but not the worst. (pretty close to it)
Also they will not have very many job skills except low level type jobs that you get here in Las Vegas. Certainly its not their fault, that their parents raised them here, but they will just have to work extra hard, to get to the next level because they were denied advanced job skills and education they deserved. We can thank the politicians for this.
When you take young people such as these and ask their impressions....well they're getting it from somewhere.........so listen !! It's that simple
Nevada has 2.7 million people. With 2 major universities and a few community colleges, and a small bunch of those technical schools like ITT Tech, Truro, and such. Former Senator Bob Beers strangely boasted about our great array of schools here. He lost his last election.
Massachusetts has 6.5 million people. With 122 colleges and universities. In one state. Hello?
Although we must request that Massachusetts apologize for the noxious presence of the "Heavy Hitter" in Nevada. Glen, please go back. I'm so ashamed....