This program brought to you in part by the Erika Lewis Endowment Fund.

♪♪♪ CCSD is the fifth largest school district in the nation, with student success as its number one goal.

Join us as we meet student go-getters and goal setters and discover their skills, talents, and drive.

Plus meet the incredible staff who are helping students shine.

It's all here in Student Spotlight.

-Hi, everyone, and thanks so much for joining us for this edition of Student Spotlight .

I'm Maria Silva.

We have a lot to share with you in the next half hour.

Tag along as Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara surprises students with the Superintendent's Reading Award.

Then...

The Vegas PBS Media Crew takes us inside Project 150 to learn how this nonprofit helps students.

Plus... Learning lacrosse with some help from the professionals.

And... A one-on-one interview with new District F School Board Trustee Irene Bustamante Adams by a student in her own district.

But first, a first for Liberty High School, an art exhibition that lays the foundation for an expanding arts program at that school.

We got the chance to meet the student artists on opening day of the First Annual Visual Arts Show.

(Chrissy Pavesich) We are in the Liberty High School Library where we are showcasing all of our visual arts students.

It's from five different teachers, probably eight or nine different subject areas like painting, drawing, ceramics, photography, and so forth.

So we're excited to show off all their talents.

(Michelle) My family's very proud that I'm going to be in an exhibition.

(Derek Bellow) Now it's their big moment, right?

It's their, it's their championship tonight.

So now we are going to put everything on display for the public to see.

-We told them, Just bring all your families and friends.

So we're expecting a ton of people.

(Angelica) I am very excited.

It's something I didn't think would happen at Liberty.

Before this, photography students weren't very shown around at Liberty.

-The public perception of Liberty is usually centered around athletics, right?

With what we're seeing here with this phenomenal talent that we're showcasing this evening, now you kind of see that when the principal of Liberty says, Hey, you know, although we're proud of our athletic success, but we also do some other things really, really well, this is evidence to that end.

(Jacob) And this one is in Fort Bayard in New Mexico.

I took Photography 1 as a sophomore, but we really didn't have like a teacher to teach us.

So I practiced out of school.

-Mrs. Pavesich has definitely come to Liberty and changed the Photography program for the better.

-She helps us do our best and puts us into like, these contests.

For example, like the Scholastic Arts.

-I like taking pictures of people I know, that I'm comfortable with.

My friend Alex, she's the-- She's a lot of the pictures of who I have up.

I think they're some of the best I've taken so far of the ones I've had.

I think art is important because it lets students express themselves in other ways than, you know, the reading and writing.

-And I feel like art is one way to bring people together and being able to actually form connections with other human beings.

-There's a good student art community happening now.

And that will expand also just from these shows happening.

♪♪♪ -We wanted a night dedicated to the arts, so we made one.

And it was a lot of hard work, and we're super excited and super proud.

-Opening night featured a potluck dinner, orchestra performances, and a strong sense of community.

Student artists at Liberty are already looking forward to next year's event.

Very talented students.

Well, recognizing improvement is so very important.

District leaders use data from the recent MAP Growth Assessment for Reading to identify three 5th grade students who showed the biggest gains in the entire school district.

Those students and their teachers got a big surprise when CCSD Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara showed up in their classrooms.

We tagged along with Dr. Jara as he hand-delivered the Superintendent's Reading Awards.

First Stop, Dickens Elementary.

(Dr. Jesus Jara) What's going on over here?

(Carolyn King) Today, we received a surprise visit from our superintendent.

-You know what the superintendent is?

It's like the principal of principals.

Like your principal, Miss King, is in charge of the school.

Well, I'm in charge of all the schools, right, but I have a great team.

So you are here at-- (Neymar Arroyo Gil) Dickens Elementary.

- --Dickens Elementary School.

And you are 5th grade, right?

-Yeah.

-One of my students, Neymar, did show the highest growth in his MAPs testing in the whole school district.

So that's pretty amazing.

-So this morning you were surprised in your class because of your reading.

You've had-- You made some really good gains in your reading assessments.

-I'm so proud of you.

-The MAP Assessment is an assessment that students take four times a year to measure their growth in math and reading.

It is very important, particularly because we know that our kids have come back to school with gaps.

It is so important to have that information so that we can provide real-time intervention for students.

-They gave me a--I can't say it right--certificate.

-Then you have a great teacher.

- ...on top of the paper, and put it in the water.

-Cassandra Pash is the granddaughter of Dusty Dickens, our namesake.

We are so proud of Miss Pash.

She is actually a first-year teacher, and it has just been so wonderful to see her grow and just see the results of her hard work with her students.

-Neymar, he is just-- He's just a pretty amazing kid.

He has just been so focused on just understanding more, just showing that he is working hard in being an amazing student.

-Listen, I am very proud of you.

I know your mom and dad are so proud of you too.

(Lluvicela Gil Cazarez) [in Spanish] -It was just so great to see the smile on his face this morning and how proud his parents were.

But it's just indicative of the hard work that he's put in, and it's just so great to see him be recognized and rewarded for that.

-It was all Neymar.

It was all him.

He's gonna go a lot of places in life based off of just the dedication he has at just such a young age.

-Keep up the good work.

Okay, thank you.

High five.

-What a great visit.

Congratulations Neymar.

Well done!

We also want to give a big shout-out to the two other award winners: Nyasia, who recently transferred to CT Sewell Elementary, and Emelia, a 5th grader at Josh Stevens Elementary School.

You can watch their surprise visits on the Student Spotlight page of the Vegas PBS website, vegaspbs.org.

Congratulations to all of these talented students.

Now let's head to the Northwest Career and Technical Academy for our very first News Break.

-Hi, I'm Dominic, and I'm from Northwest Career Technical Academy, -And I'm Zianna.

We're here in the Hawk Media Group studios with your first News Break.

-District leaders launched a new tool.

It allows the public to look at all kinds of data for every CCSD school.

It's called the District Overview, an online data dashboard that breaks down information like enrollment, attendance, behavior, and many other performance measures.

The new page provides transparency and quick access to data about the state of education in the Clark County School District.

You can find this new resource at data.ccsd.net.

-Speaking of resources, if you need some help with your homework, don't forget about "Paper."

Paper is a free on-demand virtual tutoring service available to all CCSD students.

Students, like us, can get one-on-one help in any subject 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

It's easy to try.

Access Paper by using your online Clever account.

-That's all we got right now.

But a little bit later, a few of my classmates will come back and talk a little bit more about our school.

-But for now, let's send it back to the Vegas PBS studios and Maria.

-Thank you so much for that News Break.

Well, the Clark County School District works with many community partners to help students succeed.

One of those partners is a nonprofit called "Project 150."

EJ from the Vegas PBS Media Crew is in-studio right now with that story and so much more.

Hi, EJ.

(EJ) Hi, Maria.

I'm part of the Vegas PBS Media Crew, a crew of former and current CCSD students who produce special content for teens.

We wanted to learn more about Project 150, a nonprofit that provides support for homeless, displaced, and disadvantaged high school students so they can remain in school and graduate.

Here's Adam with more.

(Adam) So how did you come across Project 150?

(Jacob) Back when I was in high school here at Western High School in Las Vegas, I was in a dual enrollment program with CSN where I was exposed to college-level courses.

And they introduced us to Senia.

(Senia) As the programs manager at Project 150, I handle the different programs that we offer.

So the workshops, Betty's Boutique, and the scholarship program that we have here, providing those free resources to our high school students and current college students.

-So how does the application process work for the student scholarships?

-So we have now grown with the times, and we are electronic-based.

-I'll bet kids are grateful for an easy scholarship process.

-I hope we are the easiest.

[laughter] -It was very straightforward.

Questions were very clear, and you just go straight through it.

One of the biggest difficulties of trying to go to college is being able to pay for it, right?

And as soon as I heard, I was very thrilled to be able to know that I can start my college journey.

-Right.

Absolutely.

It's a struggle for a lot of people, and scholarships like this that are nice and easy to go through are always a blessing for those people.

-Yeah.

-How does your scholarship program stand out from some others in the valley?

-We not only just help them their freshman year, we want to see them graduate.

So we've seen nonstop graduates from the beginning.

And it's something that we're grateful for, and we're able to be a part of their journey.

-What's your favorite part about working here, being able to work with these students?

-So I've been here for seven years now.

And it never-- It was just being able to connect with the students.

I believe Jacob though, the one that you guys interviewed, he-- just having to be able to relate to them and connect with them.

Building that relationship is really important to me.

Not only with our donors, but with our students.

Because a lot of times some of these students don't have someone to be there to support them to say, You can do it.

And so that's the best part about working here at Project 150 is we're making sure we're right there along the way as the students are going through their life.

-Thanks, Adam.

The first annual National Civic Learning Week was last month, and CCSD teachers and students from across the district participated in this national initiative.

There were lessons and activities to promote and celebrate civic learning and engagement.

The hope is to help build stronger, more resilient communities and create a more vibrant democracy.

Now to a big competition for students involved in the Distributive Education Clubs of America, more commonly known as DECA.

DECA is a career-technical student organization that prepares future leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.

We stopped by the state DECA conference to talk to students on Eldorado's team.

(Wendy Menchu-Lopez) Welcome to Nevada DECA SCDC '23.

This is our annual State Career Development Conference.

My name is Wendy Menchu-Lopez.

I am the Associate State Director for the organization, and I'm excited to share that we are welcoming over 800 conference attendees, which includes students, advisors, as well as business professionals who are here today to judge our events.

(Amber) I kind of find leadership as a way to make a difference and to make an impact.

So it's more-- It's not really like a dictatorial like, You do this, You do this, but for me, it's more so, Let's all do this together, and let me help you and guide you towards these, like, successes.

(Valentina) Leadership in this competition really means getting up in the morning-- man, because it's hard--but just getting up, getting ready, being prepared, being confident.

Even if you're not confident, fake the confidence because that's the only thing you can do.

(Bryan and Christopher) Some of the leadership I used here, it's like leading some of my teammates around, like telling them what they should do or what they should, like, say, like, over here during these interviews.

(Kyra) We did virtual business.

They're like little games.

And I helped my team take first place in State.

And although it was a little difficult, I tried to lead my friends and my group in the best way possible, showing them how to do the financing and everything.

It was a little difficult, but that's how.

(Dominic) Leadership means to step up to the plate when no one is there, no one else wants to, and just take control.

Just lead everybody to success.

(Angel) I know I was one of the first people to go through the competitions earlier for sports and entertainment-- my fault-- and I didn't really know what to expect.

When I saw my teammates come in, I gave them the rundown on what they needed to do or just little tips and tricks.

-That was all him.

I just listened to what he said.

[laughter] -He's the leader.

-Congrats to all the students involved.

We'll be back at the end of the show with our segment, "In Our Opinion."

But for now, let's send it back to Maria.

-Great job as always.

Thank you so much, EJ.

Well, the Clark County School District Board of Trustees has two new members.

Ellie Lakatos from Southwest Career and Technical Academy recently sat down with the new Trustee in her very own district to learn more about what District F Trustee Irene Bustamante Adams hopes to accomplish during her term.

(Ellie Lakatos) Thank you, Ms. Bustamante Adams for joining us.

And I would like to start with my first question: What is the focus or biggest change you are hoping to make while in office?

(Irene Bustamante Adams) Ellie, thank you for having me.

The biggest focus that I want to concentrate on is restoring the confidence back into the Clark County School District Board.

During my campaign, realized that parents, teachers, students, community stakeholders had lost confidence in the ability to focus on student outcomes.

And I think that my experience in my leadership roles, I know that the leadership roles that I've had in the past will be able to add value to that.

-And what would you highlight as the issue you are hoping to address in your term?

-The-- Where I can add value is really in building community partnerships.

In my last two-and-a-half months being a school board trustee, I realized that addressing our student issues is a community challenge and that we need all stakeholders, especially the business community to focus on the biggest challenge.

And one of those is student outcomes.

-And what was your inspiration behind becoming a school board trustee, and how would you say this affects your term?

-It's two-fold: It was a personal tragedy, the loss of a brother-in-law on his day of his retirement date, and hearing of all the things that he did for youth and how he served the community.

And so it made me look at what can I still do while I'm still here on this earth?

What other gifts can I bring forth in order to serve others?

And then the other one is my grandson.

He was two at the time when I entered the race.

And I want to be part of the solution, instead of being on the sideline to be complaining.

I want to add value and be part of the solution.

-Wow!

That is indeed very motivational.

And then my next question will be how are you planning to use this new position to benefit the community and specifically District F?

-Well, District F is amazing.

I have all the way from Spring Valley to Sandy Valley, which is like an hour away outside of Las Vegas.

So the whole plethora of amazing things that are happening in that area just inspires me.

And what I see the biggest need is that connection between the amazing things that you and other students are doing in the Clark County School District.

Make that connection.

Like today, the people that you got to meet, connecting them with mentors, employers that want you, keeping kids here in Southern Nevada.

So it's connecting that education, the workforce, and economic development.

-Well, I am indeed grateful for the opportunity.

I agree.

And I would also like to add, why do you believe that CCSD trustees are crucial to the community?

-Well, they are one of the community stakeholders in this to make this region work.

So it's just not the educators, it's just not the economic development and the employers that we're bringing to this region, these amazing companies, but it's the connection of education, workforce, and economic development.

And that's why trustees are so critical, because we are addressing the policy and the finances of where to invest our money for the students.

And then also, we're the student voice in this collective region of where we want to draw the talent and for what they want to become.

-Thank you, Ms. Bustamante Adams for joining us today.

-That was a wonderful interview.

Thank you so much, Ellie and Trustee Bustamante Adams.

You can learn more about all of the CCSD Board of Trustees on ccsd.net.

Now let's go back to Northwest Career and Technical Academy for our second News Break.

-Hello, I'm Chloe, here at Northwest Career and Technical Academy.

We're here in our control room with HMG News .

-I'm Fernando, and we're back with our second News Break.

Now about our school as a career and technical academy.

-We have a lot of hands-on opportunity, known as programs at our school.

My personal favorite is our Construction program.

-Hey, Chloe, aren't you in construction?

That's a little biased if you ask me.

-Yes, I'm in construction, and I'm a little biased.

But nevermind that.

Let's show you the shop.

(Todd Jacobs) So the shop is a lot of different tools and workstations that people can work at.

It's a wide variety of projects that can be done in the shop.

-Man, I love this class!

Seeing everyone's creativity, designs, and execution is really inspiring.

-Wow!

You guys have some cool projects.

Let's take a look at our cool projects in Video Production.

-Here at the studio we have designated jobs we've chosen.

Most of the class is student led, from creating to scheduling to communication.

-However, we cannot take all of the credit.

Our teacher, Ms. McClain has worked at Northwest growing the Video Production program for five years.

-She focuses on getting her students ample opportunities and educating us well enough to be field and job ready.

Thank you for taking time to get to know two of our beloved programs here at Northwest.

-We offer many different programs and over 60 clubs.

Make sure to check us out and see what we do in our community.

-Now we send it back to Maria at the Vegas PBS studio.

-Thank you so much for letting us know more about your school.

Great job!

Well, it is a sport that is gaining popularity across our valley.

Students at 10 CCSD schools are learning lacrosse from members of Las Vegas' very first professional lacrosse team.

Now, we stopped by Johnson Junior High School with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs to see what the excitement is all about.

♪♪♪ -We are here at Johnson Junior High School in the gym.

And we are working with Desert Dogs, the professional lacrosse team here in Las Vegas.

And we're super excited to have them on campus here, working with our kids with a sport that many of them don't even know what it is.

(Isabella Whetstone) I feel a little nervous because I'm not really that good at sports.

But once I started to get going, like, Oh, I can do this.

This is easy.

I can do this.

(Erik Turner) I'm Erik Turner.

I play lacrosse for the Las Vegas Desert Dogs, and I'm a transition player.

Lacrosse is pretty new to Las Vegas, and the opportunity to introduce it to a bunch of students that may not have access to the game and have maybe never seen the game is just a great way for us to share the sport.

(Igniz Segovia) It was really fun, especially learning the mechanics and how to carry a stick and balance the ball in it correctly.

So, like a little guide to learning the sport.

-It was absolutely amazing.

I didn't think I could play with professionals, let alone a team that plays for Las Vegas, Nevada, or whatever.

-We've done a really good job of getting into the community and in situations like this and doing various camps and clinics.

(Keith Sneddon) We took a number of initiatives: giving pinnies to all youth players that had Desert Dogs logo on them; to donating physical goals to fields, Parks and Rec lacrosse clubs throughout Las Vegas; and then our sticks donation program, donating 500 sticks to Clark County public schools, ten different elementary and middle schools; to begin a pilot program to bring lacrosse to the PE curriculum here in Clark County.

-I'm hoping they take away that physical activity things like that to improve a healthy lifestyle can be done and accomplished through other things other than running or healthy eating, stuff like that.

- 1, 2, 3... Desert Dogs!

-How cool is that?

Well, the Desert Dogs will continue working with PE students at the 10 pilot schools to help build their lacrosse skills and their confidence.

The hope is to expand the number of schools and students in the near future.

Well, that does it for this edition of Student Spotlight .

A reminder that you can watch this episode and past episodes on the Vegas PBS website.

Stay tuned for "In Our Opinion" from the Vegas PBS Media Crew.

Thank you so much for watching.

[shutter sound] ♪♪♪ -Hi, I'm Adam reporting here from Vegas PBS.

This has clearly been a big month for student leadership.

Because of this, we wanted to go talk to students and staff with the student council at Desert Pines High School to get their opinions on teen leadership, the stigma around it, and where it can go from here.

Let's go take a look.

So you said you lead a student council, right?

So what does that usually entail with the student council?

(Galdino Griego) It could be anything, any day.

Really what I try to do with my class is we have about 50 kids.

I say it's student ran.

My president comes in daily.

She tells me what's going to happen, and I say, Okay, let's make it work.

-Do you think that being in this position has helped kind of give you some leadership skills?

(Evelyn) Yeah, definitely.

I learned to be more responsible with my time.

And I know last year, I really wasn't the "good student," I guess you could say, but student council and this leadership role really has helped me improve.

-So do you think that students should be trusted in more leadership positions?

-I feel like they should.

Like I said, I feel like the trust has to be earned and throughout time with the teacher and build a relationship and then later on, I feel like they can be trusted.

-Do you think that adults tend to trust teenagers in more controlling positions?

(Chloe) Not really.

I mean, maybe some.

But I think they underestimate teens a lot.

-If you could try to push adults to be able to fully understand that, how do you think we could do that to put that across to them?

-I think just talking to them, communication.

-I think that there tends to be a stigma with teenagers that they're lazy or don't want to put in the work or whatever.

Do you think that teens do want to be in leadership positions, or do you think the stigma is right or wrong?

What are your thoughts on that?

-I think when teens, like, how most teens, when they have the opportunity, they do, but they kind of need that push.

-So would you say that overall teenagers, they want these opportunities and need to be pushed for that?

Is that true?

-Very much so, yes.

They want the possibilities, and then they also need access to making that happen.

-Do you think leadership roles have helped you outside your life?

Do you think that translates to even currently outside of school?

-Yeah, I do feel like this leadership role has helped me outside of school.

I feel like I'm more positive now.

So I look on the brighter side.

Like I've learned while planning events, I feel like instead of thinking negative when something doesn't go right, I look at the positive side and how to fix things instead.

-I think, I don't know, I just want to be different so bad.

But I think, I don't know, I just like big roles, and I like helping the community and being there for people.

-I'm inspired every time I come in to work because like I said, when I come in, I know I got my E-board at the door, Hey, how are we gonna make something happen today?

And I think that our kids, the future of however we look at this, is going to be in good hands because they see their community and they're using those words.

I didn't use those words until I was in college.

You know?

And they're in high school having a conversation.

I think there's something powerful going on with this generation.

And I'm hoping we can tap into it and maximize it.

-Thank you, Chloe, Evelyn and Mr. Griego, for sharing your thoughts.

We wanted to hear more students' thoughts on this from around the district.

So for the first time, let's toss to the satellite crew to see what students at their schools have to say.

Thanks, guys.

(Kira) Do you feel teens should occupy more leadership roles?

(Shawn) I feel like teens should occupy more leadership roles, because a lot of aspects of today's society affect teens on a day-to-day basis.

(Satik) Yeah, students do want to be in leadership positions.

They-- I'm sure that a lot of students like to lead.

(Dominick) So do you think teenagers can be trusted in these leadership roles?

(Sabdy) Oh, yes.

I think a lot of times I've had to experience adults tend to underestimate your abilities or skills.

(Julian) Everyone is going to have to use leadership as soon as they get out of high school.

Whatever they do, they're gonna end up, even if they're not a boss, they're gonna end up using leadership in their life.

(Victoria) For me, it really helped find out who I was and who I am really to this day.

I can be a leader, and I can show people what to do and what I really want to do.

(Shawn) And so for my message to teen leaders out there is that the sky is really the limit.

You have what it takes to be leader, and you are the only thing that is stopping you.

[shutter sound] ♪♪♪