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

(Maria Silva) Coming up on Student Spotlight, a big welcome back to students and staff in the Clark County School District.

We tag along as kids at Red Rock Elementary School see their newly built school for the very first time, and you will, too.

Plus a new CCSD school is set to open in Boulder City at St. Jude's Ranch for Children.

Why this new school is so very important.

Then see how these first-time students at Booker Elementary and their families prepare for the transition to kindergarten.

And meet the artists behind this summer's Sphere-sized Student Design Challenge.

Those stories and so much more coming up on Student Spotlight.

It starts right now.

[swiping sound] A new school year is underway.

Hi, everyone.

I'm your host, Maria Silva.

And I'm outside, right now, the brand new Red Rock Elementary School.

Just take a look at this beautiful school.

Although the building is brand new, this school is in the heart of Las Vegas, and it has a lot of history.

Here at Student Spotlight, we've been documenting the years-long school replacement process, from teardown to temporary classrooms to this beautiful building.

Now get ready to see the excitement of the first day of school at this brand new building and a look back at the journey to get there.

♪♪♪♪♪ (Chantae Readye) I'm excited to have the halls filled.

I'm excited to have our students make this school theirs.

♪♪♪♪♪ (Glen Booth) So I'm excited to meet my teachers and see what the classroom looks like.

(Cozette Tran) I like how everything is new and how I can get a fresh start.

-So Red Rock Elementary opened in 1955, and our last school year on our original site was the 2022-2023 school year.

So the shape of the school when it closed was, it was really run down.

I mean, we often had electricity issues.

We often had HVAC issues.

We didn't have the updated facilities.

We still had asbestos in some of our walls, so it really did need to be updated for the students.

(student) Good morning, Red Rock Roadrunners.

Today is Monday, May 22, 2023.

It is the last day of school for the current Red Rock Elementary.

It's Sherlock Holmes Day!

(Brittney Kubik) So next year, we'll be moving to a temporary school that our children will be bused to, and then we'll have school there for a year.

And then we'll be back on our new campus in one year.

-We may be transitioning for a year and coming back, but Red Rock is still Red Rock no matter where we are.

Goodbye, Red Rock.

(Mirna Martinez) Well, you know, they say your home is where you are and your heart is.

And Red Rock, although our building is gone, that love and that spirit is alive, you know?

It's here.

(Adellyn) I just feel really excited to go to a brand new school, even though it's kind of the same school.

-There will be a lot more places for the kids to play, a lot more textures, a courtyard in the center that can be used for outside learning.

So I'm just really excited about all the opportunities we'll be able to have for education at the new site.

-When you walk up to the building and you see it, it's beautiful.

And you realize that's your school.

So often in our lower-income communities, the schools look completely different than a school you might find in Henderson or Summerlin.

And so being able to offer them a top-notch, top-of-the-line school in the community shows how much we value them and how much they are worth that kind of effort and beauty.

-It's just been a joyride.

It really has been a roller coaster, but at the same time, it's like it comes, ups and downs, brought a lot of smiles.

We learned a lot about ourselves.

We learned that we're a very strong-knit community within our school.

Our staff love each other, and, you know, you learn that teamwork does make the dream work.

-What an amazing school community and an absolutely beautiful 83,000 square foot campus.

I've been touring it.

But Red Rock isn't the only new elementary school in the Clark County School District.

Ruby S. Thomas Elementary School also has a new campus.

The rebuilt elementary school was designed to include state-of-the-art technology and energy efficient lighting, heating, and cooling systems.

The campus features an interior courtyard as well as outdoor classroom spaces and a school garden.

A beautiful school, no doubt.

And just before the first day of school, community members, school staff, district and elected officials were all on hand for the official dedication of the new William G. Bennett Elementary School in Laughlin.

The elementary school building and a gym were added to the existing Laughlin Junior-Senior High School, creating a more cohesive K-12 campus.

(Dawn Estes) Joy, gratefulness, 38 years in the making, and just that example of community coming together, working together, partnering with so many amazing individuals, teams, companies to get it done.

-We wish an amazing new school year in these amazing new buildings for all the staff and the students.

Now to Boulder City, where for nearly 58 years, St. Jude's Ranch for Children has been helping children and young adults here in Southern Nevada.

I recently took a trip to this beautiful campus where a new CCSD school, the first of its kind, is set to open later this fall.

(Christina Vela) And the interior of the, of the community is a big healing garden.

And out in the garden, there will be beautiful, you know, pieces of nature, a beautiful heart sculpture that we had a local artisan welder create for us, because we want our young people to know they're loved no matter where they are in their journey.

-Love, hope, and healing at the forefront of a new addition to St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City.

The Healing Center, still under construction, is the first of its kind in the nation.

-And certainly Southern Nevada is, you know, is a hot spot, if you will, for child sex trafficking for all kinds of reasons.

And yet they're still, up until today, there's very little to no resources for child victims of trafficking and that it just made sense for us to take a step forward and say we could create a place that doesn't exist yet.

And I can't believe we're sitting in one of the most amazing buildings.

-That amazing building, a new CCSD school, also a first of its kind.

(Amy Manning) So part of the process of healing is connecting your mind to your body, because that gets disconnected in trauma.

So exercise helps you bring that back.

And so we'll have a teacher that's going to do CrossFit.

Myself and my counselor are yoga certified, so we can do yoga with the students.

We took a 500-hour class.

-Principal Amy Manning made it her mission to hire the right team for a school that's nontraditional.

-We also wanted people who were very compassionate and had a real story and a reason why they wanted to help this particular population.

So they may not be necessarily related to anyone that has sex trafficking, but there was something in their upbringing that had this calling that they again wanted to give back to their community or felt there was this experience in their life they could connect with one of our students or more.

-The school's motto, "Be the Light."

-It's very special, because they've been in very dark places.

And so we want to help them start to be their own light, but also be the light for each other in their process of healing.

-Also ready to get to work and help students heal, another bright light at this very special school, Maggie, the therapy dog.

So very sweet.

And no doubt that Maggie and all of the caring teachers and staff will make a difference in the lives of these deserving students.

The new school is set to open in November and will be able to welcome up to 60 students.

We wish them the very best.

Well, the new school year started with a new policy for middle and high schoolers when it comes to using one of these...cell phones.

The new CCSD policy calls for student cell phones to be held in nonlocking, signal-blocking pouches.

They are kept in a safe location within each classroom.

The goal is to create a more focused learning environment.

Arbor View High School was one of a handful of schools to pilot the new policy last school year.

(Duane Bickmore) Statistically, as far as class performance, once we implemented the policy, we had way better student performance on grades, on tests, other things.

I know there's a lot of factors to that, but so many teachers and students talked about the different distractions that had disappeared.

So I think it was a big contributing factor that our academics actually improved.

-The cell phones, by the way, are accessible to students in case of an emergency.

Now let's toss it over to Mike O'Callaghan iLearn Academy for the news around the district and our first "News Break."

-Hi, I'm Josh.

-And I'm Sophia from Mike O'Callaghan iLearn Academy, and I'm here with your first "News Break."

-Most CCSD middle schools now have crossing guards.

It's a new change for the school year.

Crossing guards traditionally were only at elementary schools.

The Clark County Commission and Cities of Henderson and North Las Vegas approved adding crossing guards to help get students to and from school safely across the busy streets.

Drivers, please watch for school zones and remember to slow down.

-What do you think makes a good superintendent?

The CCSD Board of Trustees is asking community members to weigh in and complete the superintendent search survey.

-And a shout-out to the Best Buddies school chapter at Palo Verde High School.

They were presented with the Outstanding Chapter award by Best Buddies International.

It happened at the 2024 Best Buddies Leadership Conference this summer in Indiana.

Best Buddies is a nonprofit that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, employment, and leadership for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Congratulations, Palo Verde!

Keep up the good work.

-We'll be back later in the show to talk about our school, but now we send it back to Maria.

-Wonderful job!

Thank you so much, and we can't wait to learn more about your great school.

Well, getting ready for that first day of school is both exciting and can be overwhelming, especially for the little ones, the kindergartners.

That's why staff at Booker Elementary put together a kinder camp before the new school year began.

It was a great learning experience for students, teachers, and parents, too.

(Cullen Skyles) So today we are introducing our kindergartners, our incoming kindergartners, to school.

We have about 35 kindergartners coming in.

We wanted to get them in the process of what it's like to come to school, leave their parents for a little bit, get them set up for the first day.

That way we can ease, kind of, the anxiety of coming here and being left and make sure the parents feel that they can trust us and and feel more comfortable coming in.

(Willie Ward-Hudson) The kids came in this morning with their families.

They were met in the beginning, in the entryway with the admin and our staff, and we were able to color code our kids so the parents knew right away who their child's teacher was.

And we went inside, and we just started off our morning routine.

-So what this is gonna look like today?

We're gonna go into the cafeteria.

They're gonna get breakfast.

Follow me, guys.

My name is Cullen Skyles.

I'm the principal at Booker.

This is Miss Castillo.

She's my assistant principal.

And then our teachers, our kinder teachers, we have Miss Ward-Hudson, Miss Lucky, and Miss Vicente.

Today is going to look a little different.

We're just focusing on getting the kids comfortable today.

Tomorrow, we're gonna start our procedures, so our drop-off procedures and our pick-up procedures.

All right, so when you guys drop off in the morning, you're going to drive in through here, drop off, because the kinder gate is right there.

All right.

So when they get out of the car, they'll come straight into this gate.

Come on, Sally.

Next Wednesday will be the last day we'll allow parents to walk in.

You'll just have to kiss your kids goodbye here in the car, and they'll walk in through here.

Some of our students do have prior schooling, so coming in is not so hard for them.

But those that have never separated from their families, it's hard.

It's not only hard for the students, but for the parents, too.

(Jennifer Perkins) It's really hard because he is my baby.

But it's exciting because I know he's growing up and getting that independence and everything that he's gonna need to grow.

-All right, friends.

So good morning, my friends.

(student) Good morning.

-Good morning.

Are you excited to be here today?

Yes?

(children) Yes.

-If you're excited, raise your hand.

Cool.

Do you know where you are?

Where are you?

(student) At kindergarten.

-You are in kindergarten.

And you're where?

At school.

-This is the first year for our kinder camp.

And basically it's a tradition that we'd like to continue, especially with the reception that we've seen from the parents and the students.

It made me teary-eyed because I was so excited, because we've never had that kind of experience before.

So it made it even better and more welcoming, like a home.

-Absolutely love this idea.

Well, administrators at Booker Elementary School also made surprise home visits to welcome new kindergarteners and to drop off some Bobcat swag as well.

What a fun way to welcome the youngest of students to an exciting new school year.

Well, we definitely enjoyed finding out how some of you students spent your summer break.

Dozens of students even got the chance to hang out with scientists on UNLV's campus, all part of the Young Rebels program.

Check it out.

(Bernie) STEAM stands for Science, -(Violet) Technology, -Engineering, -Art, -and Mathematics.

-Bernie Rodriguez, a 5th grader at Sandy Searles Miller Academy, and Violet Neri, a 4th grader at Robert and Sandy Ellis Elementary School... -These camps are amazing and really, really fun.

-...are no strangers to attending these amazing and really, really fun camps put on by UNLV Early Outreach and its Young Rebels program.

-I get to learn something.

They take good care of me, and I can explore the campus.

-Dozens of students all got the chance to explore UNLV's campus while taking part in the Starting the School Year Full STEAM Ahead day camp.

(Devan Harris) Yes.

So CCSD is definitely our biggest partner.

And so out of Early Outreach, we have a menu of services for elementary, middle, and early high school.

So grades 9 and 10.

Our goal is for them to feel like they can see themselves here one day, right, or at any college campus, really.

But fingers crossed, UNLV.

-Leading the interactive STEAM sessions... (scientist) I am from the Desert Research Institute.

-...real life scientists.

(Emily McDonald Williams) So DRI is the research arm of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

So DRI is predominantly focused on researching solutions to environmental problems on a global basis.

(scientist) It's the state of the animals in...living in the ice.

(student) North Pole.

-Yeah.

What do you think?

Are they in danger, or are they in good condition?

-In danger.

-My team is the STEM Education program team at DRI, and our job is to really take that innovative science and to engage the next generation in high quality and interactive STEM learning.

(scientist) I am now going to work on driving my robot.

-We coded some robots, and then we kind of played with them.

We did engineering, and we created a structure to hold on when there's earthquakes.

-They're so intelligent, and it's really wonderful to see those problem solving skills really come out while they're participating in these activities.

-And the future sure looks bright for the next generation of scientists.

-STEAM!

-And I can definitely tell you that I personally had a blast watching these brilliant minds at work.

Future scientists, indeed.

For all the great programs offered year round, please visit youngrebels.unlv.edu.

Now let's head back to Mike O'Callaghan iLearn Academy for our second "News Break."

-Hi, I'm Susie.

-And I'm Osmat from Mike O'Callaghan iLearn Academy.

We're back with the "News Break" all about our school.

-We're in STEM Magnet Academy in East Las Vegas.

Our school has programs focused on robotics, video game design, web and app design, and video production.

I am part of the Video Production program that teaches us video editing, media production, and animation.

We produce OCTV and deliver all of the news to our school.

We are fortunate to have opportunities to collaborate with our peers and community partners to solve real-world problems and gain experiences in potential career fields.

-We are a proud five-star school, and our school was recognized as the Top Magnet School of Excellence by Magnet Schools of America for 2024.

We also offer many after school clubs with a STEM focus, such as nationally ranked robotics team that competed in the VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, Texas.

This year, an award winning Future City's team.

We have many other student interest clubs and competitions that support our magnet theme.

We're also starting a new podcasting club this year.

-Thanks for allowing me to share about our school.

Visit CCSD's magnet website to learn more about the magnet schools in CCSD.

We'd love to see you at our school next year.

-Now we'll send it back to Maria.

-Thank you so much.

Great work out there.

Well, our next stop, Desert Oasis High School, where we continue our series of getting to know the CCSD School Board of Trustees a bit better.

Well, students Aidan and Chloe interviewed Trustee Lisa Satory, a nonvoting trustee representing unincorporated Clark County.

(Aidan) Good morning, Mrs. Satory.

My name is Aidan.

-I'm Chloe.

-We have some questions to ask.

(Lisa Satory) Excellent.

Thank you for having me here.

-It's our pleasure.

So to begin, it's more of a personal question, but what made you want to become a trustee?

-Very good question.

It really wasn't something I would say was on my radar, but I'm a firm believer in that things come along your way for a reason.

So I just happened to be watching the news and had seen the broadcast about these four new trustee positions that were coming open to represent the municipality.

So there was a Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson representative that was going to be appointed.

They were taking applications, and I looked into a little bit about what the position entailed.

And it really was wanting someone that had a diverse background, had been in education, preferably just, you know, as more of a kind of advisory input role.

And as I thought about it, I thought, this is-- I thought it was really good fit for me.

I have been in charter schools.

I've been in CCSD.

I've been an administrator, a teacher.

I've been in elementary, middle school, high school.

I've served on numerous education boards.

So I just thought I have quite a vast realm of experience.

I thought it was something I'd enjoy.

I'm always looking for ways to further contribute to education, to further help out, just give back and do as much as I can.

Like I said, something just kind of spoke to me, and I thought I would be a good fit for it.

-Going off that, is there anything you would change about being a trustee?

-Well, currently we do not have voting rights.

So, I mean, probably moving forward, I think it's been a great way to get us involved, get us giving input, learning about the role of a trustee, but that is something I'd love to see change in the future, that possibly we would have those voting rights.

We definitely become very involved, get very passionate on a lot of the topics.

It would be something that I think all of us as the appointed trustees would like to see happen in the future.

But in the meantime, I'm enjoying the role as is and giving back and contributing as much as possible.

-And then speaking about changes, what is your future-- or what is your vision for the future of the School District?

-Well, definitely right now we're engrossed in the superintendent search.

So a lot of our vision, it really is going to be a joint vision with the new superintendent.

It's been great because we've had our survey out to get input from all the stakeholders about what the community would like to see in their new superintendent.

We are currently holding focus groups.

There are some virtual and some that are in person.

So really, my goal right now is just to attend as many of those as possible, really hear from the community, hear what the community wants in our new leader.

So, like I said, I really think as this develops, it will be a shared vision.

Really, some of the main things that I see personally would be really our growth data, really seeing that, you know, really trying to make sure that our students are performing at the highest level.

But I really think a lot of that comes down to culture and climate.

So if I had to say the number one thing, I really want to work together in a unified front with our community, with the superintendent, would be really creating a better culture and climate.

Just positivity, teacher recruitment, retention, all of those go hand in hand with the environment.

So that's something that I would personally, as well, be looking for in a superintendent, someone that has a good track record with being transparent with the community, being visible, being present, really just being out there.

I really think that's what we're going to need in our new leader is someone that everyone can just get behind.

I think then all of those things with, with our achievement data and those things will also come into play.

We're seeing a lot of gains in our chronic absenteeism, suspensions, expulsions, those things starting to go down.

So we're definitely on the right trajectory.

I just think now that we get that new leader and really, you know, doing a good job right now of getting that feedback as well.

I think the community is feeling really involved in this process.

So I think it's really going to give us a good jumping off into that new leader and getting behind he or she and continuing to make gains as we go.

-Thank you for your time.

It was wonderful having you.

-It was a pleasure talking with you.

-Great job!

Thank you, Aidan and Chloe.

And thank you as well, Trustee Satory.

The students had more great questions for the trustee.

You can find the entire interview on our website.

Go to vegaspbs.org.

Well, it may just be the biggest art project on the planet.

More than 100,000 students were invited to take part in the XO Student Design Challenge for a chance to have their designs appear on the exosphere on the Las Vegas Strip, the world's largest LED.

After both public voting and a panel that included professional artists, the winners were selected and announced during a special ceremony.

Six Clark County School District students--two elementary school, two middle school students, and two high school students--were all selected as the big winners.

Now, I caught up with one of these artists.

Check it out.

-Your art is going to be on that Sphere because you have been selected as one of the winners.

-Simone Enriquez's face and her proud dad's sweet reaction says it all.

(Simone Enriquez) So every day since the voting started, I looked at the voting and asked all my family and friends to vote.

-And, boy, did those votes pay off.

Simone's fabulous design, a winner.

-Oh, I did the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.

It was, it was a really iconic part of Las Vegas.

I wanted to put that in there.

-It was on the Fourth of July, the first anniversary of when the Sphere first lit up the Vegas skyline, that the art created by the XO Student Design Challenge winners was revealed for all to see.

The big announcement made national headlines, the students even featured on CBS Morning.

-It's amazing.

It's so cool.

It's a dream come true.

-If you're wondering how the designs, created by these talented artists... (teacher) Again, taking a two-dimensional design and making it three dimensional.

-...ended up on the world's largest LED... -We just had to, like, sketch out our design.

It was-- it was hard, too, because we had to keep erasing and drawing to get it perfect.

-Well, once picture perfect, it was up to Sphere digital artists to convert the student designs into exosphere animations.

(designer) And then we wrapped it to the Sphere.

-From where I was sitting, the Sphere was very big.

So I had to, like, look all the way up.

But it was really, it was really nice and exciting to see it.

-As for Simone, who is now a 6th grader, she plans on continuing with her impressive art career and credits her former art teacher at McCaw STEAM Academy with inspiring her and encouraging her class to take part in this first of its kind competition.

-Miss Hansen, she usually likes to bring us all in for like these competitive, these competitive stuff.

I've always been competitive, especially in art.

So obviously, I wanted to do it.

It was really exciting to do it, too.

-Big congratulations to Simone and all of these amazing artists.

As for the grand prize, elementary and middle school students received a $10,000 donation for their school's art program.

And the high school students each received a $10,000 scholarship.

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

A huge thank you to Red Rock Elementary School for letting us showcase their amazing new campus.

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

And if you know of a student, staff member, or school program that deserves the spotlight, please send us an email at studentspotlight@vegaspbs.org.

We would love to hear from you.

Well, we leave you with a graduation celebration and a reminder of what a new school year eventually leads to.

Congratulations to the more than 300 CCSD seniors from across the school district who received their high school diplomas at the Orleans Arena in early August.

These students worked through the summer to complete their required credits for graduation.

Bravo!

We are so incredibly proud of each and every one of you.

We hope to see you again next month for more great stories.

Thank you so much for watching Student Spotlight.

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