Schools · Valley-wide
Nearly 800 CCSD students discussed current issues at the Sun Youth Forum on Election Day, with $35,000 in scholarships drawn
The Las Vegas Sun's annual forum brought nearly 800 Clark County School District students to Cimarron-Memorial High School on Nov. 3 to discuss current issues, and randomly drawn students won $35,000 in scholarships.
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What happened
Nearly 800 Clark County School District students spent Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, at the annual Sun Youth Forum at Cimarron-Memorial High School, the Las Vegas Sun reported. The Sun runs the forum. Students met in classrooms to talk through issues facing their community and the wider world.
Students were also randomly drawn for scholarships totaling $35,000, according to the Sun. The money came from a mix of universities, foundations, businesses, a state office and the newspaper itself.
How the forum works
About 40 discussion rooms
This year's event filled about 40 discussion rooms, the Sun reported. Topics ranged from law and crime to teen issues to a room called "Home in Nevada." Adult moderators, including elected officials, UNLV professors and business leaders, guided each session, but the students did the talking.
The Sun describes the forum as a place where young people practice listening, disagreeing and respecting views that differ from their own in a civil way. Students came from schools across the valley, including Palo Verde, Green Valley, Sierra Vista, Veterans Tribute, Coronado, Foothill, Del Sol and CSN High School.
A program dating to 1956
Sun founder Hank Greenspun and his assistant, Ruthe Deskin, started the forum in 1956, according to the Sun. The goal was to give high school students a place to share their views on current events and to make sure community leaders heard them.
An Election Day setting
The forum fell on the same day voters across the country went to the polls in the 2026 midterm elections. Brian Greenspun, the Sun's publisher and editor, contrasted the classroom talks with national politics. "There's no consensus, and no one is even talking to one another," he told the Sun, adding that the forum was "exactly the opposite."
Students chosen to carry the ideas forward
Each discussion room picked a representative from among its members to share the group's ideas with a wider Las Vegas audience, the Sun reported. The newspaper has partnered with KUNV and UNLV-TV to feature some of those students in news segments. Other representatives will write columns for the Sun.
Representatives named by the Sun came from a wide range of campuses, including career and technical academies such as West, Northeast and SECTA, as well as Spring Valley, Las Vegas and Advanced Tech high schools.
Who funded the scholarships
According to the Sun, scholarship funders included UNLV, UNR, the Tang Foundation, Silver State Schools, Teach for America, Arcata Associates, Center for Learning, the Nevada Treasurer's Office and The Village Foundation. Scholarships also came from Patrick Duffy and Luis Velasquez, and the Las Vegas Sun funded several of its own.
Winners attend schools throughout the district, including Chaparral, Canyon Springs, Arbor View, Bonanza, Rancho, Desert Oasis, Centennial, Mojave, Western, Legacy and Eldorado, along with several career and technical academies. Families following district news can find more coverage on our schools page.
What to watch next
- Columns written by student room representatives, which the Sun says will run in the weeks ahead.
- News segments featuring forum representatives through the Sun's partnership with KUNV and UNLV-TV.