This forum for youth expression began in 1955. Students from across the district come together to discuss current issues with state and local dignitaries. This one-day event is sponsored by the Las Vegas Sun Newspaper.
SYF PROMO FINAL V3-1.m4vThe Sun Youth Forum was established in 1955, by Hank Greenspun Founder and Publisher of the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, as a way for students to comment on major issues of the day. It is a unique program in the U.S. not only for its format but also because of its longevity.
The first Sun Youth Forum was held in 1956 in which 96 students from five high schools participated. In 2019 approximately 1,000 juniors and seniors from 53 high schools and high school programs participated in the Sun Youth Forum at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The Sun Youth Forum, sponsored in cooperation with the Clark County School District, follows the format set in the early days by Ruthe Deskin, assistant to the publisher, who served as director of the Sun Youth Forum for 43 years.
Each high school, using various criteria, selects a number of juniors and seniors to attend the Sun Youth Forum. Traditionally, the students have been from government and social studies classes. At the Sun Youth Forum, they are divided into small discussion groups according to seven topics: Home in Nevada (state issues), Teen Topics, School Days (education issues), Around the World (international issues), Law and Crime, Potpourri (a variety of topical issues) and America (national issues). The students learn about the topics in their classes, so they are prepared for their discussions.
The discussion groups are moderated by prominent community leaders that include senators and congressmen, state and city officials, lawmakers, business executives, educators, and community activists. It’s an opportunity for students to meet and interact with these leaders, and it’s also an opportunity for the leaders to gain an insight into – and hopefully an appreciation for – students’ views and suggestions for change.
The goal of the Sun Youth Forum is for the students to speak out and the adults to listen. The role of the moderator is to facilitate the discussions, not to inject their own opinions or lecture the students.
Students not only express their opinions and exchange ideas, but they also often come up with solutions to some of the problems they discuss.
Room Representatives are chosen from each discussion group to summarize their groups’ opinions with the Las Vegas Sun newspaper; appear on a television panel at the Hank Greenspun School of Communications at UNLV; discuss their sessions on KNPR, radio program; and appear on Vegas PBS television program Nevada Week.
The 2025 Sun Youth Forum, sponsored by the Las Vegas Sun in partnership with the Clark County School District, was a huge success!
There were over 607 student participants, and $24,000 in scholarships were awarded to randomly selected CCSD high school seniors.
A student representative from each topic room was selected to share the opinions and solutions from each group. These students will work with the Las Vegas Sun staff to complete their assigned task by writing content for TV, radio, podcasting, or news articles.
The 66th annual Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum was held at Cimarron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. Over 550 students from 41 Clark County School District high schools participated in the event. Fourteen students received scholarships awarded by Brian Greenspun, UNLV, UNR, Nevada State Bank and private donors. Thirty room representatives were chosen from each discussion group to summarize their groups’ opinions with essays in the Las Vegas Sun and UNLV TV, KNPR Radio and Vegas PBS interviews.
Click on the photo gallery to the left and the recap video below to see what a great day our student delegates had.
The 65th annual Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum was held at Clark High School in Las Vegas Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. Over 500 students from 42 Clark County School District high schools participated in the event. Nine students received scholarships awarded by Brian Greenspun, UNLV, Shelly Berkley and Nevada State Bank. Twenty-one room representatives were chosen from each discussion group to summarize their groups’ opinions with essays in the Las Vegas Sun and UNLV TV, KUNV FM Radio and Vegas PBS interviews.
Click on the photo gallery to the left and the recap video below to see what a great day our student delegates had.
The 64th Annual Sun Youth Forum was held at Liberty HS on Tuesday, November 8, 2022
Students from 37 Clark County high schools participated in 20 topic panels.
CCSD students, Hayley Rizor and Orlando Moreno, are featured on Nevada Week. Click on this link to the left to hear the opinions of the rooms they represented in the 2022 Sun Youth Forum.
