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.

(Melinda Malone) Hi, everyone, and welcome to Student Spotlight .

I'm Melinda Malone.

(Mauricio Marin) And I'm Mauricio Marin.

We have a very special show planned for you this month.

Every story you'll see in the next half hour was written, edited, and produced by students in the Clark County School District.

-That's right.

We reached out to video production classes from around the district and asked students to send us their best work.

We're calling it the Student Spotlight Student Takeover .

-We're honored to send it over to our student broadcasters at Spring Valley High School who will be hosting this special edition of the show.

(Zaydeus Palado) My name is Zaydeus, and I'm part of the Grizzly News Network at Spring Valley High School.

(Gabriel Lesic) And I'm Gabe.

I'm also part of the Grizzly News Network .

We figured if this was truly a student takeover of the Student Spotlight , in addition to all the stories, students should be in the studio to host.

Don't you think, Zaydeus?

-Yeah.

Good idea.

And since it looks like we're the hosts now, let's kick off the show with a story from our Grizzly News Network about the Spring Valley High School football team.

-Our team has had a great season so far, and one player has been a big part of that success.

Our classmate, Aidrik, with the help of John and Callie, introduce us to Kelze Howard.

(Aidrik Teal) Our football team has clinched a playoff spot.

Some of our team's success has come from the hands of Kelze, who has 55 tackles and 8 sacks this season.

Kelze has been a part of the varsity football team for three years now and is not done yet.

What's up, Kelze?

How you doing today?

(Kelze Howard) I'm doing pretty good, man.

Doing my thing.

-So we got some questions for you.

So what made you want to play football as a kid.

Like what made you fall in love with the sport?

-It was really my dad that really made me, like, to really like and love football for real just because he was a football player like when I was being born and stuff, and he was into it.

-Like Kelze, his father worked hard and made it to college where he played at Colorado State for four years.

Is that what football means to you is like to play for your dad, or is it-- -Nah.

I play for myself; I don't play for my family.

It would be like I've grown to learn it, to love it myself.

First I started because my dad played it, and I was like, well, I'm gonna try it too.

But then, you know, once I really got into it, I was saying I started playing for me, playing for me and my family and doing what I got to do.

-Look at you now.

You got-- How many offers you got?

-Seventeen.

-OSU?

-OSU committed, O-S-U.

Stop playing; I'm committed, man.

-Okay, we got some hot questions now.

So just right off your head.

Don't think about it.

Just say it right off the head, okay?

-All right.

-So, easiest team to play against?

-Easiest team?

Chaparral.

No, not Chaparral.

Bonanza.

-Bonanza?

Okay.

-Bonanza.

-Who's got the most swag on the team?

-Pokey Dove.

-Okay, okay.

Shout out, Pokey-- -Yeah.

- --if you're watching this.

-Shout out my boy, Pokey Dove.

-Prefer offense or defense?

-Defense.

-Favorite album or song?

-I like "Hoodie SZN" by A Boogie.

-Okay.

That's respect, that's respect.

Favorite snack?

-Any type of gummies, for real.

I like Gummy Bears.

-Gummy Bears?

-Yeah.

-What about Welch's?

-Fruit snacks, all type of stuff.

But I don't really like hard candy though.

-What's something you look forward to in college?

-I look forward to, you know, being a star or something.

You feel me?

Like starting my own branch and my own brand.

-Okay, and the last one: What's your pregame ritual to get you ready for a game?

-What I usually do before a game?

First of all, I gotta get lit, you feel me, to some music or whatever.

And then, you know, I do my little pregame prayer.

And then I'm ready to go.

-And then you're ready to go?

-No doubt.

-Sounds good.

Thank you for having time out here.

I was glad to interview you.

-Oh, yeah.

No doubt.

-Good luck tonight.

-Yes, sir.

Appreciate it.

-Kelze has captured the attention of a lot of colleges with his skills but has made his final decision and is committing to Oregon State.

-Kelze helped his team to get to the state playoffs this year, but they fell short of the win.

Regardless, we're super proud of our team.

-There's another form of football gaining popularity at CCSD schools, flag football.

And girls are playing too.

Let's head to Palo Verde High School where Jordan and Madison introduce us to the Palo Verde Panthers.

[students speaking] -We'll go full...Huddle...Wing right.

(Rick Eurich) From when I first started, it was kind of a throw-out-the-balls, just have a good time.

And now it's morphed into a bunch of former football coaches like myself who have actually taken pride in building all their programs.

And it's something where we're watching film.

It's almost like a regular football program, just at a smaller scale.

It's actually-- and it's more competitive.

As the sport has grown, we have grown.

We've gotten more serious about what we're doing, we have more pride in what we're doing, and we treat it just like any sport I've ever coached.

(Morgan Mourabit) I definitely think the popularity of the sport has gotten much bigger.

When I was a freshman, football and college wasn't a thing.

And now people I know are in college, and they're doing great and they're playing a sport and they're loving it.

And more people are getting to know what flag football is all about.

It's not as popular for girls, so getting to really show what we can do with flag football is very cool.

It's giving girls a chance to play the same sport as boys.

(Olivia Millsop) I decided to play flag football my last year at Palo.

Just for finding this amazing opportunity, I got a scholarship to attend Midland University out here in Fremont, Nebraska.

This is the third year that it's been in college.

It's currently in NAIA schools and NJCAAs.

It is supposed to be in the Olympics next year.

Flag football is a growing sport; it's continuously growing.

-The kids actually love the sport and want to learn.

Every day I come out here, just wants to learn and be better.

I feel like I'm teaching kids something new every day.

(Jordan Katz) With the sport only being in it's second season at the college level, flag football is becoming an international Olympic sport and event in 2028.

It's a perfect sport to have fun and be competitive at the same time.

From Palo Verde High School, I'm Jordan Katz with Madison Plourde.

Thank you so much for watching.

-Thanks, Jordan and Madison.

If you want to find a flag football team near you, check out nflflag.com.

-Now to Foothill High School to learn more about a new app on teen phones.

You've heard of Instagram and TikTok, but what about BeReal?

The app uses both the front and the rear cameras on the phone to give users a slice of life.

Foothills' MJ has more on BeReal's growing popularity.

(MJ Moctezuma) BeReal entered a response to early-stage photos found on other social media platforms.

You can find students all around the district being real throughout the day.

The BeReal app is one of the top teen trends going on late 2022.

(Shiloh Peterson) BeReal is an application that you show your friends what you're doing in that exact moment in time.

Each day it will send you one notification, and you have two minutes to show exactly what you're doing and try not to fake it.

-The BeReal app allows users to post one photo per day at the random time the app sends out the notification reading, "Time to BeReal."

Users have two minutes to capture BeReal using both the front and back camera to show people their life in real time.

-With the notification going off at any time, it gives a natural look into people's lives without any filters.

(William Burkhardt) I like the fact that teens will be able to connect or at least see each other again, seeing each other in that moment and kind of see what somebody else is doing compared to what they're doing.

(Randy Castro) It's kind of like Snapchat; you can just see what other people are doing in that exact moment.

(Paul Agamba) My favorite part of using BeReal is probably the Realmojis, which is like pretty much the reactions you get to send out to your friends.

-MJ Moctezuma reporting for FST News.

-Thanks, MJ.

She tells us the BeReal app is currently ranked number five in the App Store for social media.

-This has been fun so far.

But as it turns out, we're not the only students at the Vegas PBS studios for this Student Takeover of Student Spotlight .

-Let's turn it over to Ethan from A-TECH to share some great stories from his school.

Hi, Ethan.

(Ethan Chiu) Thanks, guys.

I'm actually here at Advanced Technologies Academy, known to us as A-TECH, in our own video production studio.

And we've got a lot of cool things that happen at our school.

There's a club here called "Rock 4 Change" that allows students to come together in a safe environment and jam.

Here's Val with more.

(Valentine Dannaker) I am Val, and I am the president of Rock 4 Change.

[rock music] (Dr. Jeffrey Hinton) My name is Dr. Jeffrey Allen Hinton, and I'm the advisor of Rock 4 Change here at A-TECH.

You know, Rock 4 Change is a club that I started here at the Advanced Technologies Academy-- oh, it's been about seven or eight years ago --and the intent was to introduce or to give students an opportunity to be in a band, to come together to share their love of music and to perform.

(Ashton Nancarrow) Hi, I'm Ashton, and I'm the vice president of Rock 4 Change.

I feel like Rock 4 Change gives the school a lot more diversity curricula-wise, and it just brings people together.

-I would just say that Rock 4 Change is successful because of the students.

We have great kids here at Advanced Technologies Academy.

We have great student leaders here who have really made Rock 4 Change what it is.

-It's given me leadership.

I'm a much better leader because of what I've done with Rock 4 Change so far.

♪♪♪ ("Big-T" Winner) I'm the resident lead guitarist.

I've met people in here that I would probably have never come across otherwise, and I've become friends with people who I don't have any classes with.

Even if we're not, you know, remotely similar in terms of taste of music, we can bond over the fact that we like playing music.

♪♪♪ -Like most teachers, I really enjoy watching kids develop and to thrive.

And so with Rock 4 Change, having these opportunities for kids to really put forth their best selves, it's really been a blast.

-Wow, what a blast!

You can continue to follow the journey of Rock 4 Chang through its Instagram @atarock4change.

Now on to another group on campus that's also making noise... in a good way.

Our Speech and Debate team has over 70 members and is completely student run.

Ryan introduces us to the president of the club.

(student) Principally, specifically at birth because IVF can help stop genetic disease and children.

(student) Mr. Representative, what is your response to the fact that there is no guarantee that this funding would-- (student) Greenhouse gas emissions from high speed rails, HRS 11.

With the UK thinking of the carbon footprint of high speed rail-- (Ryan) This is Speech and Debate-- We negate resolved: The United Stated Strategy of Great Power Competition produces more benefits than harms.

- --a club I've done for four years now and I've created my own family in.

I captain one of seven events in Speech and Debate known as "Public Forum," where we have around 12 members who all focus on dissecting politics, foreign and domestic.

From the tremendous amount of work that goes in it, there's a tremendous amount of fulfillment.

All of this is possible today thanks to one member, our president, who works tirelessly and has created a community like no other.

(Abigail Halpin) Hi, my name is Abigail Halpin.

I am a senior, and I'm Speech and Debate president.

As a freshman, I was helped a lot by other senior members of the team, and I thought that being president would be the most direct way for me to help others like they had helped me.

Speech and Debate is where I gained the confidence that I now have that I didn't previously have.

And it's also where I met some of my best friends in the world.

First, we have to get people signed into Tabroom, and that takes forever because there's so many places things can go wrong.

Then we have to get judges.

It's a lot.

-So it's a stressful ordeal?

-Yeah, for sure.

But it's worth it.

I hope that everyone has learned from their speech debate experience and they can then go on and use that in the real world.

I hope that people can work together and have a good community within Speech and Debate.

And I hope that they can have fun for the rest of their careers.

-The A-TECH Speech and Debate team is also on Instagram @mavdebate.

You can follow them there to learn more about their tournaments.

There's another club on campus that celebrates Hispanic culture.

Naomi and Shania take us into A-TECH HSU.

(Shania) Our HSU club is very involved at not only school events, but events all around Clark County.

At each event they participate in, they work to express themselves through all of their different cultures and experiences.

And not only does this help to bring light to Hispanics of all kinds, but it's also fun while doing so.

(Mrs. Carlton) HSU is really special at A-TECH because we have a lot of intersectional cultures here.

To be Hispanic doesn't-- It could mean all kinds of different cultures.

We have students that come from South America, Europe, Central America, students with... [students cheering] ...all kinds of different people.

So I think that's one thing that really... [students cheering] ...HSU is special at A-TECH.

My favorite events are the Multicultural Fair, that's a lot of fun, and I also like our potlucks.

Running HSU at A-TECH is seeing all the kids make friends with each other and try new things and to have a lot of really positive experiences with all different kinds of people.

(Fabian) I really love the people.

I like going out public speaking with everybody, especially going to volunteering events, and you know, we're helping out our own community.

We're helping culture centers in the Clark County district.

I'd rather be doing that than doing anything else because I'm getting-- I'm helping my people, and I'm having fun at the same time.

So this is tinga.

Basically, it's like chipotle shredded chicken.

Some onions, put cheese on top, and then you put some lettuce.

(Joaquin) My favorite part about HSU is that it brings the Hispanic community together in a way that I feel isn't represented as much on campus.

[students cheering] -Thanks.

And you can follow them for more @atechhsu.

As you've seen, we have a lot of students here that participate in all sorts of clubs and activities.

One student in particular decided to create a club completely dedicated to stopping human trafficking.

Here's Vishnu with that story.

(Vishnu) This is my good friend Aaron Sebastian.

He's a student in the day, but a human rights activist at night.

Aaron Sebastian is one of the most motivated and hardworking students I know at Advanced Technologies.

Among his many projects and aspirations includes a very notable and inspirational one, Teens Against Trafficking .

(Aaron Sebastian) Hi.

My name is Aaron Sebastian, and I'm the founder of Teens Against Trafficking .

It is a Nevada-based student-led coalition, which is aimed at decreasing human trafficking rates and creating a safe haven for human trafficking victims.

-Now, the organization was created fairly recently, and Aaron continues to work tirelessly to take it off the ground and has multiple discussions every week about the organization's future plans, including its first ever awareness event.

-After learning about human trafficking through my own research, I was able to understand the extent to which this affects many of the teenagers in our community, especially here in Nevada.

I felt there was a need for me because of the lack of resources in Southern Nevada to initiate a coalition that not only educates our community, but also protects our victims as well.

I want to expand our organization to have members from all walks of life and to also enact legislative action to enable our victims to have a governmental protection in their futures.

-You can find out more about Aaron and TAT at their Instagram page @teensagainsttrafficking.

-Thanks, Vishnu.

And keep up the great work, Aaron!

We've got one last story to share with you, a way that graduating seniors at A-TECH can leave their mark in the school's hallways.

Kira and Gianna have more on A-TECH's art pillars.

(Kira Granito) Every morning when we walk through those front doors, we are reminded of the diversity and undeniable talent that the students here at A-TECH possess.

(Gianna) These pillars represent more than just paint; they represent the personality, cultures, and uniqueness that the students here at A-TECH have to offer.

We spoke to our teacher Mr. Chung, who provided students with both supplies and advice when painting their graduating pillars.

(Kevin Chung) So my name is Kevin Joon Chung, if you use the English pronunciations.

I came here to A-TECH in 2015-2016 school year.

We started off-- That first year, we started with a pillar project.

I approached my administration about the possibility of decorating those pillars and not make it so grayish, like a hospital or prison kind of environment.

Part of my objective for that is to showcase the students' talent, okay, and not to make the school be known as a bunch of geeks.

I want to show the, the rest of the world and people that come and visit us here that we have a bunch of very gifted artists that go to this school.

-What is your favorite pillar out of all these?

-My favorite pillar has to be the one that have the "Welcome," okay, because I think that has a lot of students' involvement.

And it bring the multicultural aspect into our community and into the school through just saying-- I think at one point we were-- A-TECH was known as "Asian Tech," and I think after that-- [laughing] --I think they slowly changed the population.

So I think the multicultural thing, that these are all the ethnicity that you see during that particular year.

-We love our art pillars.

What a legacy to leave for our future students.

That wraps it up for A-TECH's portion of this Student Spotlight Student Takeover .

Thanks for having me and letting me share student produced stories from our school.

Now we'll send it back to the crew from Spring Valley High School.

Thanks again.

-Thanks, Ethan.

And great job to all the students at A-TECH who submitted stories.

Well done!

-Before we sign off, we want to take you to Frias Elementary School where students there are celebrating a former student, Bryson Stott, who is now a professional baseball player with the Philadelphia Phillies.

[upbeat music] Thanks, Frias Elementary School.

This has been a great show, and we've loved being your student hosts.

-On behalf of the Grizzly News Network at Spring Valley High School, thanks for watching.

You think we should bring back Melinda and Mauricio now?

-Probably.

Thanks everyone.

[static] -Wow!

Our students are so talented.

They definitely have a future ahead of them in television.

-Students learn so much in their video production classes.

The Vegas PBS media crew takes us behind the scenes of three schools to learn more about morning announcements.

[shutter sound] (Joseph) Hi, I'm Joseph.

(Adam) And I'm Adam, reporting here from Vegas PBS.

-Throughout a student's time at school, they'll come to learn many valuable skills.

One of these essential skills is leadership.

-More and more, teachers are promoting student leadership by working in teams with them to achieve a common goal.

-At the end of last year, we went and visited three schools --Gilbert Elementary, Cadwallader Middle School, and Arbor View High School-- to see their student-led morning announcements.

-Let's go take a look at what they've been doing.

(Daun Korkow) It's a magnet school for creative arts.

So we do-- We have a theater, we do dance, and we have a TV show that we run live through Eduvision every day.

(Allyson Cummings) So we run a broadcast out of Cadwallader Middle School, but it's much more than that.

(M. Justin Red) Well, I run-- I lead-- I lead?

I don't lead it, I facilitate a student-run program where my kids take leadership positions in my org chart, which closely resembles what you might find at a real broadcast operation.

-It's kind of different.

I don't know many schools, if any, around here that do a live show every day.

But it's great character building, let me tell you.

-The main responsibility is every day the kids come in, they give the important school announcements throughout the whole school through a broadcast through OBS Studio.

-The show is important.

Student culture is important.

And the biggest thing really to communicate to staff and faculty is that the show is not for you.

[laughing] This show is by the kids for the kids.

-And when you bring them all together and they each piece their different pieces in there, you can have something that not only is quality content, but kids relate to it.

(student) I thought it's was cool to do because I thought it cool to integrate something that we were already learning about into something that our school already does.

(student) If teenagers can't relate to it, they're not gonna want to watch it.

But if they can relate to it, they're going to compare their lives to it.

(student) I really like being recognized by other people.

I love when people, when I'm walking by, and they're just like, Hey, that's the girl from the news.

-It expands to the whole world because we got, like, kids whose grandparents are in Bulgaria.

And they watch the show every day.

-A good broadcasting program at a school can change the entire school.

There is so much power in what my kids are doing.

-I'm just really proud of my kids and in the work they do.

They come in, they're professional, they do their best every day, they're creative, and I couldn't ask for a better group of kids.

-Thank you so much.

And I think we're now at the end of the show.

Boy!

That went by fast!

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

-But for now, we'll send it back to the Vegas PBS media crew for In Our Opinion .

Thanks for watching.

-And a great job to all the students who helped us with this show!

[electronic music] (Jaden) Hi, I'm Jaden.

Me and my cohosts, King David and Lohana, went to Clark High School to interview some students about their perspective on friends, what it means to have them and the difficulty in making them.

This is In Our Opinion .

Do you find it easy to make friends through your different sports?

(Miguel) Yeah, I feel like it's pretty easy making friends.

And I not only make friends on my team just to help that sportsmanship, I like making friends with the other teams.

(Alex) I think it's kind of difficult because you have to see if they're going to be good friends or bad friends.

(Susie) It just depends on like, if you're a very outgoing person or if you're more of an introverted person.

I'm like sort of both.

So sometimes it's easy for me to make friends, and sometimes it's not that easy.

(Amiko) If you try things like after school activities, clubs, just talking to people, then it would, most certainly, expedite the process.

(Jocelyn) You get a lot of opportunities to connect with people that have similar interests as you.

So I feel like it's just a lot easier to connect with people and make friends that way.

(King David) What would you describe as a good friend?

-For me, I would describe a good friend as caring, thankful, and the most important thing, respectful.

(Chris) A true friend will be there for you in your hardest time, will help you out if you need help.

-Really honest, essentially.

They're a person who can tell you your faults, your, you know, shortcomings and all of that in a kind, respectful way.

-You say your friends have helped with your development from freshman year to senior year?

-Yes, definitely.

I feel like freshmen year, I didn't really have many friends.

But then as soon as I got to my junior year, I started making more friends and having more, like, people around me that I knew I could trust.

And that really helped me a lot because it made it so it was kind of a more of a safe space.

And it made it so I wanted to participate more.

-I'd say that, you know, thanks to my friends, I used to become-- I use to be a very closed individual.

I used to be very "to myself," I guess.

But since I really opened up to my friends, they helped me become a better person.

I've become a lot more sociable, more, you know, cooperative with a lot of people.

I feel like it's really helped me in my high school career.

-Big thanks to all the students at Clark High School for giving their thoughts.

Once again, I'm Jayden.

And this has been In Our Opinion .

♪♪♪