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

(Maria Silva) Coming up on Student Spotlight, meet King, a CCSD Police K-9 officer nearing retirement after years of helping keep students safe.

Plus... The science behind growing gardens, how these high schoolers are learning about hydroponics and so much more.

Then... A student-run nonprofit is empowering teens to give back in a big way.

And we are at the "Evening of Excellence," celebrating CCSD staff who make a difference every single day.

Those stories and so much more.

Student Spotlight starts right now.

[swiping sound] Welcome to Student Spotlight.

I'm your host, Maria Silva, joining you from William E. Snyder Elementary School, where, as you can see, spring has sprung.

I love what they've done to this school and all these wonderful decorations.

Now, a little bit of history.

This school is celebrating, listen to this, 25 years this year.

It opened back in 2001, and it is named after local architect Bill Snyder.

The school's motto: A galaxy of learners.

And these brilliant learners have some wonderful teachers who inspired them to reach for the stars.

One of those teachers is Ms.

Boucher.

The Governor's Office of Science, Innovation, and Technology recently named Ms.

Boucher "STEM Teacher of the Year."

-Sara is such an amazing, incredible teacher.

She is all about the kids.

-Go forward.

There you go.

-Step inside Ms.

Boucher's classroom, and you just don't see the learning.

You feel it.

(Daron Morris) One of the stations was my favorite, where we had to destroy a tower we made.

(Sara Boucher) Today is the Robot Rodeo.

It's a little chaotic, but it's a lot of fun.

So we take out all of the robots, we take out all of the skills that they've learned from the past couple weeks, and, honestly, just give them some time to play.

-Sara Boucher has been a teacher for more than a dozen years... (Sky Espina) I love my teacher, Ms.

Boucher, actually.

She's always like, so fun and creative about, like, all of her classes.

-...seven years here at Snyder.

-But I really want them to see how can I use technology as a tool so that we can use it for, yeah, we're using it for fun, but they're also learning, you know, how can I problem solve?

How can I fix this?

(Rafael Dominguez) In STEM, we just, like, talk about math, engineering.

-While Ms.

Boucher officially teaches science, technology, engineering, and math, her curriculum also includes connection.

(Jenne Haynal) She wants to have those moments, those connections.

And what she gets in return are excited students, students that can't wait for STEM, even students that maybe STEM isn't really their thing, but, man, they love Ms.

Boucher.

-And Ms.

Boucher loves them.

When asked her favorite part about teaching... -I knew you were gonna ask a question that was gonna make me cry.

-...the answer brings her to tears.

-Teaching is really hard, but I love the kids.

I just love teaching.

I get to work with kids, and who gets to say that they get to go to work every day and hang out with kids and play with robots and learn about coding and do science experiments?

-Her passion is contagious.

-I'm always, like, interested and like motivated to learn what she's teaching about.

(Alain Radago) She's really nice, like really, really awesome.

She's really nice.

-And she is always looking to do more.

-Just in general, I think kids deserve to have the best access to everything, right?

It shouldn't matter where you're at, what part of the city you're in.

Kids deserve to have access to the best of the best.

I get to do a lot at this school, and I'm really thankful for all of the things that we get to do.

So it does mean a lot.

-Ms.

Boucher may be the STEM Teacher of the Year, but the real winners are her students.

-She's just an awesome human.

She is.

She's wonderful, and we are so blessed to have her here as part of our Snyder family.

-Love her dedication to her students.

They are all superstars.

Well, another CCSD teacher was also honored by the Governor's Office of Science, Innovation, and Technology.

Denise Frye Ward for Mike O'Callaghan i3 Learn Academy was selected as "Southern Nevada's STEM Teacher of the Year."

Big congratulations to Ms.

Ward as well.

Speaking of STEM, it is a big part of Greener Planet STEM School Gardens and Hydroponics program now in 250 CCSD schools and more than 1,300 other schools spanning, listen to this, 44 states and 5 countries.

Now, the seed of an idea was planted right here in Southern Nevada, and, boy, has it grown and flourished.

Now, I recently met up with one of the organization's cofounders at Sunrise Mountain High School and got to see firsthand the great work they are doing in our schools.

Check it out.

♪♪ (Robert Evans) Grab the plant by the base and push up on the bottom, and get as much of the dirt and the roots out as you can.

-Inside Mr.

Evans' Botany class, members of Sunrise Mountain High School's Garden Club have become quite the experts when it comes to hydroponics.

(a student) We have to flip that way?

-Let's see.

Yeah, we probably want it the other way.

The hydroponics is great, because indoor hydroponics is going to use 99% less water than an outdoor crop would.

So in an arid environment like Nevada, hydroponics is really the future of agriculture.

And the indoor vertical farming, you don't need so much real estate to produce more plants.

So that's what we have in the stands here.

We can grow them on top of each other and get more plants per cubic foot.

-The Garden Club, getting ready for the nation's largest student-run farmers market.

(Ciara Byrne) Are you all going to the farmers market?

-Yeah, this is the farmers market squad.

-This farmers market squad will join more than 600 CCSD students at Greener Planet's Giant Student Farmers Market on Earth Day.

-For me, the farmers market is about joy.

It's joy in students being able to be like business operators for the first time and realizing that they have so much potential.

And I'm hoping that, you know, some day in 10 years or even longer, we'll be able to look back and say, Oh, wow, look at these amazing entrepreneurs in Nevada.

They came out of the farmers market.

And how awesome would that be?

-Some of these "farm-preneurs" are no strangers to taking part in the farmers market... (Aether Laureano) For us to sell them later on at the farmers market, it's like, wow.

Like, really, we're actually like doing this?

I feel like it's a little surreal to, you know, like, sell plants that you actually like, you grew, yeah, you planted.

-And they've been hard at work getting their fresh produce ready.

(a student) That's an eggplant, or is that zucchini?

-Yep, that's the eggplant.

These are, these are eggplant, eggplant, zucchini, zucchini.

-...both inside the hydroponics laboratory and... -To the garden!

(Jabron Jones) I think it's fun getting in the dirt, enjoying the hands-on activities.

I think it's a very growing and important part about being a gardener.

-No doubt they all have a green thumb.

-I feel like a lot of people think gardening is so easy and stuff.

But I feel like when you actually do it, it takes a lot of, like, patience and responsibility, because you got to be consistent with everything.

-And what they're growing and harvesting might surprise you.

-Another thing that we've harvested is almonds.

They're green at first, but they turn brown throughout the process of it ripening, and that's when we know when it's ready to harvest.

-This beautiful partnership with Green Our Planet started 10 years ago and continues to grow and flourish.

The organization's hope, to inspire the next generation of scientists, farmers, nutritionists, entrepreneurs, and conservationists.

-This has become one of, like, my passions and stuff.

And it's like something that I would enjoy doing and enjoy doing as a job as well.

(a student) Yeah, there's a lot.

They're all there.

-So impressed by what these farm-preneurs are doing.

And thank you to, of course, all the wonderful teachers, farmers, and our friends at Green Our Planet for all that you do to help our students.

And here's your chance to help our farm-preneurs, the nation's largest student-run farmers market happening on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, from 9:30 a.m.

to 12:30 p.m., on the lawn at Downtown Summerlin.

All proceeds raised, by the way, will be reinvested into each participating school's garden program.

So amazing.

All right.

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

-I'm Alexander here at Northwest CTA, and this is the Hawk Media Group studios.

-And I'm Madilyn, also here in HMG studios, here with your first "News Break."

(Alexander Manwaring) CCSD's police chief announced that he will retire at the end of this school year.

Chief Henry "Mike" Blackeye has served the district for more than 23 years.

Blackeye joined CCSDPD in 2003 as a school police officer assigned to Monaco Middle School.

He was named the interim police chief in 2020 and officially became chief in 2022.

The district will conduct a nationwide search for his replacement.

(Madilyn Saugstad) Did you know Cimarron-Memorial's principal was named a finalist for the "2026 High School Principal of the Year"?

This is a national honor, as he is one of three finalists across the country.

Principal Colin McNaught started his career at Cimarron-Memorial as a biology teacher and has served as principal since 2022.

This honor comes from the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

The winner will be announced this month during a gala in Washington, D.C.

-We'll have more CCSD news coming up.

This was the HMG studios.

We'll send it back to Maria.

-Thank you, Alexander and Madilyn.

Great job!

Well, April is National Volunteer Month.

But if you ask the high school student you are about to meet, she will tell you every month should be about giving back.

I agree with you.

Now, this team founded a nonprofit dedicated to teaching young people to lead through service.

We caught up with her and one of her board members after they wrapped up the nonprofit's first major event.

-Hi.

My name is Aiyana Castro.

I'm a junior at Arbor View High School, and I'm the founder of Creating a Giving Culture LV.

So this nonprofit, this was an idea that I had at 11 years old.

When I started giving back to the community, I was told no a lot from nonprofits, that I had to be 13 years old.

But I was only 11, so I started my own initiatives.

(Emylia Camacho) I got involved because I saw the Creating a Giving Culture LV flyer on Instagram.

So I messaged Aiyana, and I asked her if I could be one of the board members.

-Recently, we had this event where it was called the Community Giving Carnival, and we had around 200 youth volunteers come out.

So at the community carnival, we put together care packages.

And this is what we had inside: We had fruit snacks, chips, trail mix, a juice box, granola bars, and a water.

-We also had toothpaste, toothbrushes, and then we had body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion.

-I think it's important for K-12 to get out there and serve their community, because it teaches them leadership and compassion.

-We're giving back to the community in a way that really changes how people view younger kids.

-It was always my dream to get youth out and volunteering, and to see 200 K-12 youth come out and volunteer was really like a full circle moment.

-Amazing work!

What an accomplishment.

And you should know, we are not the only ones who have taken notice of Aiyana.

She was recently recognized by the Clark County Commission as part of Women's History Month, alongside other distinguished women here in our community.

Well deserved.

Well, one of the many reasons I love hosting this show is I get to be out in the community meeting some incredible students who leave a lasting impact.

Thanks to the great team at the Down Syndrome Organization of Southern Nevada, I recently met two wonderful CCSD students at a very special art class.

That talented artist is Amy, a student at Legacy High School.

And this equally talented artist is Jojo, who's part of CCSD Transition Program at Southwest Career and Technical Academy.

The art class, one of many programs offered by the Down Syndrome Organization of Southern Nevada.

And I'm told Jojo and Amy are not only incredibly talented, they are superstars that shine.

(Peter Whittingham) JoJo has, is now in our extension program, and she happens to be our foremost leading artist.

-So, so my skill is just so we use a pencil a lot because I'm just like learning about the shape.

So today we decide like paint the bunny.

-Amy is just wonderful in all aspects.

She is.

She is one of our star dancers, and also she's involved in our performing arts as well.

And she is just a star student.

-I just sing with my mom.

She's the best, though.

-So proud of you, Amy and JoJo, and all of these talented artists.

I can tell you, it was an honor to be in that art class watching these artists, some like Amy, there with her mom, Mariela, getting a little help from their wonderful parents.

I witnessed so much love, kindness, and empathy.

A special thank-you to the Down Syndrome Organization of Southern Nevada, your team for all that you do to help some of our CCSD students and so many members of our community.

Speaking of great things happening in our schools, joining me now is Principal Haynal.

We highlighted one of your amazing teachers.

Let's talk about your teachers and your superstar students and your support staff.

So much kindness here.

-Yes.

We have the absolute best staff.

We really do.

They-- People come, they become a part of our school community, and then they want to stay.

And the people are really what make our school so special.

The caring that they have for the students, their dedication, the amount of time that they put into each and every decision that they make, that's what makes Snyder such a wonderful place to be.

-And it also starts at the top there as well.

Okay.

Let's talk about your activities.

Award-winning cheerleading club.

-Yes.

Yeah, so our cheer team has been, oh, gosh, I think we're at eight years now.

It started out as just a little after-school club, and it has developed from there.

They regularly compete against private schools, charter schools, and consistently place first, second.

They went to Nationals this year.

They placed first in their game day.

And like, they're really amazing.

-Oh, I saw those trophies.

-Yes.

-Woo-hoo!

All right.

Let's talk about your drama club.

So excited about this, Disney Musicals in Schools at the Smith Center.

-Yes.

We selected Aladdin as our student performance piece.

They will be performing at the Smith Center, and we're so excited.

They're absolutely amazing.

The amount of talent that we have amongst our students is phenomenal.

-And again, they're elementary school students.

And I cannot wait to see them up on that stage.

I'll be emceeing this wonderful event.

So my heart is so happy.

All right.

Last, but certainly not least, you're adding members to your family, correct?

-We are.

We had a family donated, not one of our own families, but they donated a desert tortoise to our school.

His name is Rocky.

He is about 40 years old.

So he spent the last 40 years with them, and now he has joined our school community.

And he is amazingly social.

We open the door, he wants to come and check everything out.

He's just very inquisitive and interested in everything, and he's so much fun.

The kids are so excited.

-I cannot wait to meet Rocky.

Thank you so much for what you do for your students here.

And your student attends our next school.

We're sending it over to Northwest Career and Technical Academy for a second "News Break."

-Fantastic!

-Hi.

I'm Lisette at Northwest CTA in the audio room of Hawk Media Group.

-And I'm Steven here at HMG studios in the control room, and we're back with your second "News Break."

(Lisette Medina) More than 30 CCSD schools will be recognized as a Purple Star designated school.

District leaders and leadership from the Nevada Department of Education were on hand as Bob Miller Middle School recently received the designation.

The Nevada Purple Star School's award program helps schools respond to the many challenges military connected children face during their transition to a new school.

(Steven Tovar) Pre-K interest forms for the next school year are now live.

There are some requirements before you apply.

Your child must be three years old by August 1 of 2026 and not yet eligible for kindergarten.

A parent or guardian must be able to provide transportation.

The district offers more than 14,000 free pre-K seats.

Most programs are half-day with a limited number of full-day programs.

Learn more about how to submit an enrollment request at ccsd.net.

-Thank you for joining us at Northwest CTA in the Hawk Media Group studios.

Make sure to follow us on YouTube @HMG_News and on our Instagram @hawkmediagroup.news.

That's a wrap!

Let's pass it back to Maria.

-Who are we?

-HMG!

-Thank you so much, Lisette and Steven and all of Hawk Media Group.

Great job!

Well, on this show, and as our name indicates, we love to shine the spotlight on our students as well as our teachers, administrators, support staff, and even our K-9 officers.

You heard right.

CCSD's K-9 unit has been around since 2018, and they are doing important work.

Gun detection dogs include K-9s King, Peppermint, and Jack, and narcotics detection K-9s Oreo and Ace.

I love those names.

What many people may not know is that other law enforcement agencies also reach out when they need help.

(Lt.

Bryan Zink) Right from the beginning of the K-9 team, it got out into the community and then also with our handlers networking and training with other departments that we had the most and the most available gun dogs available in the valley.

So right from the get-go, our handlers started getting call-outs nights, weekends, holidays, you name it.

They're available if an outside agency needs help looking for a gun.

And now Narcotics, they can reach out to us, and we help.

And then it's also been very beneficial for our federal partners, because they'll go out with the ATF, they'll participate with different groups that do big events during Super Bowl, sporting events, major events in the valley.

We'll get called out to come out and assist them as well.

-Well, one of the original K-9s will soon be retiring.

We caught up with K-9 King during one of his daily school stops.

We even got a little demonstration of what a day-in-the-life of a CCSD K-9 looks like.

I can tell you, it's pretty impressive.

Check it out.

(Joseph Thomas) You got it?

Did you find something?

You got it?

There you go.

Good boy.

-The good boy doing a good job is K-9 King.

-He is the original dog in the team.

He's Dog No.

1.

-And Dog No.

1 has a very important job to do.

-You ready?

Find it.

His job is to find guns in the school.

Sometimes he finds snacks, but he's really good at finding guns.

He's found 44 in his career.

Did you find something?

Woo!

Good boy!

-King, who hails from Scotland... -He came over as a puppy.

He's lost his accent already, but it's okay.

-...has been with CCSD's K-9 unit for seven years and for the last five has been partnered up with Officer Joseph Thomas.

-Everybody knows King.

It's very unique to have a gun-searching dog.

-On this day, King's duties included a visit to Sierra Vista High School for what's called a "random sniff."

-I don't know till that day where I'm going.

I show up at the high school.

I asked the principal to take me to the four classrooms.

And the kids walk out of the four classrooms, and he goes through, smells the bags, makes sure there's no weapons or anything in there.

I hid it myself.

He searches for guns, so we hide oil, metals, things like that that have the same odor.

See, he's got that really happy tail.

He'll do the check-backs at me.

He'll try to convince me that it's there.

And because of that, he gets paid with his toy.

Just like that.

Good job, buddy.

Good job.

So now we're all done.

We'll let the kids say hi.

We'll pass out his Pokemon cards and move on to the next.

-Yep.

You heard right.

King and the other K-9s on the team even have their own cards, and they are a hit.

-Do you want one?

I got you.

I got you.

You guys go back in once you get a Pokemon.

You want one?

-Yes, I want one.

-There is no doubt K-9 King is treated, well, like royalty wherever he goes.

-King is a working dog, but he's also very friendly.

So he keeps the school safe, and he makes friends along the way.

-Speaking of friends and because it's not all work and no play, King had a playdate with his buddy Dude, the school's therapy dog.

K-9 King is still a few months away from retirement day, but Officer Thomas is already getting mentally prepared for when that day gets here.

-That's going to be tough.

It'll be hard not to have him in the truck anymore.

We spent so much time together.

He's earned his rest and he's earned every treat and tennis ball coming his way and he's earned the couch, but I'm going to miss him.

-And judging by all this love and attention, there is no doubt K-9 King will also be missed by the students and the teachers.

-No one's usually excited to see me.

As soon as King comes out, everyone's happy, wants to pet him.

He's the best tool we can use to connect with everybody.

Good boy.

-How cute is that?

Well, K-9 King is set to retire sometime this summer, and I've already invited myself to his retirement party.

K-9 King, by the way, will continue to live with Officer Thomas and his family, and I have a feeling the very popular King will still be visiting students even after he retires.

Well, speaking of celebrations, more than 800 of the Clark County School District's educators and staff members were recognized for their impact and dedication in the classroom and beyond.

The district's annual "Evening of Excellence" honored teachers, specialists, support professionals, administrators, and central office personnel for their outstanding work.

Take a look.

(Jhone Ebert) Tonight, we are celebrating over 800 Clark County School District educators, support staff, administrators.

It is an exciting evening because we are here at the Ka Theatre.

And just like this is a world-class venue, we have world-class people.

(emcee) Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2026 "Evening of Excellence."

(Scott Arkills) One of the things that we acknowledge and we know is important is that we need to celebrate our educators, because they really have one of the most important jobs in the world, as far as we're concerned, because they're forming our leaders for tomorrow.

And for us to be able to acknowledge that and have an event like this where we get to celebrate them is great.

-I am so honored to announce Lindsay Packer as the "Principal of the Year."

[applause] (Lindsay Packer) My favorite thing about my job is working with my students and my staff, just seeing the differences that are made every day, seeing the kids engaged, seeing the teachers light that fire.

It's just a magical experience.

-Todd Herrick, congratulations!

You are the "Licensed Specialist of the Year."

(Todd Herrick) Just working with the kids, seeing all of their dreams, like which direction they want to go, whether it's college, military, trade school, especially for our school--you know, they go all different directions--and just trying to help them get there.

-The "Central Office Administrator of the Year" for 2026 is Carmen West.

(Carmen West) I love being able to work with the superintendent.

I love just interacting with the public, being able to, you know, know what's going on and be a part of what's going on, because everything that we do affects our community.

And because our community means something to me, my job means something to me.

-Ms.

Hamilton, you are a Harris Tiger, and the "Elementary Educator of the Year."

[applause] (Ariel Hamilton) For me, it is building those relationships with students to where, you know, saying good morning to them, giving them a compliment that's intentional, showing that attention to them that they may not receive elsewhere, and letting them know that no matter where they are, like I'm always here for them.

It's a privilege to be a mentor for those kids as they grow up, helping them become the people that I know they can be.

-It is all about all of us working together in partnership to make sure our students succeed.

[applause] -And a big congratulations to all of the honorees, and thank you for all that you do to serve our amazing students.

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

A reminder that you can catch this episode and past episodes on the Vegas PBS website or YouTube page.

A very special thanks to Snyder Elementary School for hosting us for this program.

We love learning more about your wonderful school and staff.

We have one more episode left this school year.

We hope to see you next month.

♪♪♪