By Tucker Abbott

MVHS Student

MVHS students, pictures l to r, Tucker Abbott, John Rockenbach, Alyssa Zerkle, and Alysa Ramos attended the 55th annual Sun Youth Forum in Las Vegas last week.

Four students from Moapa Valley High School were selected to attend the 55th annual Sun Youth Forum at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Tuesday, November 22.

Every year, high schools throughout southern Nevada select students to attend this event. Students are split up into different categories of discussion including “America,” “Home in Nevada,” “Around the World,” and “Law and Crime.”

Each discussion takes place in a separate room. Inside each of these rooms, approximately 30 students participated in an open discussion on one of the topics given within their categories. For example, students who were in “Around the World” spent time discussing issues with Iraq, foreign policy, the global economy, and foreign aid. Students in “America” discussed items like same-sex marriage and other issues within the U.S. borders.

Altogether, there were 52 different schools and over 1,000 students participating in this event. The local students, selected by MVHS Government and Student Council teacher Charlie Cooper, were John Rockenbach, Alyssa Zerkle, Alysa Ramos, and Tucker Abbott.

While most of their peers were in school last week, these students were in heated debate, searching for compromises that would please the most people and get the most done.

After two hours of discussion on the topics, all the students took a well-deserved break and ate lunch. During their meal they were entertained by the “Jabbawockeez,” a renowned dance crew . After the Jabbawockeez’s fantastic performance, the host of the event, Las Vegas Sun publisher and editor Brian Greenspun, raffled off four $1,000 scholarship prizes. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley also gave away one scholarship prize.

After the break, the students divided up again for another two hours of debate before gathering back with Mr. Cooper to return home.