Monday, Nov. 28, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Editor’s note: About 450 Clark County high school students participated in the annual Sun Youth Forum on Nov. 8 at Liberty High School. The students were divided into groups to discuss several topics. A spokesperson was chosen from each discussion group to write a column about the students’ findings. Katia Gutierrez Perez, a senior at Rancho High School, tells of the students’ opinions in the session entitled “Home in Nevada.”
Student representative Katia Gutierrez Perez, of Rancho High School, poses during the 64th annual Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum at Liberty High School in Henderson, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.
Nevada has its fair share of troubles. Like much of the rest of the country, our economy is on shaky ground. Given the ongoing drought in the West, our water supplies are dwindling. And our state’s education system is among the lowest ranked in the country. At the Sun Youth Forum, student leaders from across the region discussed solutions for these challenges and how our generation might address them.
While much of the national economy is outside of local or state control, one thing we all agreed on is the need to diversify the state’s economy.
Nevada is so large, with so much rural land, that we cannot depend on the hospitality industry alone to provide stable jobs and revenue for the state. One way to diversify the economy would be to invest more in safe and sustainable mining — the economic engine that built Nevada.
By rebuilding the mining industry, we could expand opportunities for rural Nevadans while creating a safety net to protect against large disruptions of the hospitality industry, such as a pandemic.
However, investments in the mining industry would need to address challenges that have led to the industry’s struggles in the past. New technology would need to be implemented to maintain efficient operations. With the country already experiencing a shortage of workers, companies would need to provide good wages, excellent health care and benefits, and safe working conditions in order to recruit skilled and educated workers such as geologists, hydrologists and environmental scientists.
Fortunately, these are some of the same positions we need to help solve the water crisis.
But expertise alone can’t solve the West’s water shortage. Southern Nevada’s population is expanding at an unprecedented rate. As expansion continues, the state struggles to meet the demand for basic necessities like housing and water. We have already put restrictions on water use and our ability to recycle is one of the best, with nearly all water used indoors being reused in Nevada, so simply cutting back our use won’t solve the problem.
The problem ultimately lies with neighboring states. California’s lax water policies waste tremendous amounts of water. And since much of that water comes from the same source as ours — the Colorado River — it affects us as well.
Nevada has little say in California’s policies. We could advocate for stricter federal water laws, greater protections in a new Colorado River Compact, or sue California for the damage it’s causing to Nevada, but our forum participants decided that these approaches may ultimately be too costly or time-consuming.
Instead, we turned our attention inward to mitigate the impacts of continued population growth. Instead of building out, we agreed that there is a need to build up. Large apartment complexes can help solve both water and housing shortages by using less land to house more people, and by creating greater opportunities for shared resources.
To accomplish these goals, Nevada must build a better education system. Despite programs like the Sun Youth Forum, Nevada regularly ranks near the bottom among all states in education. Our students work hard and are regularly finalists for opportunities like QuestBridge, so it’s hard to understand why we are ranked so low.
One challenge we discussed is the reality that schools that invest more money per student consistently perform better on standardized tests and have better academic and employment outcomes. Yet until recently, Nevada’s funding was lower than most other states and did not allocate its funding on a per-student basis.
And, as discussed earlier, the lack of reliable and good-paying jobs in rural parts of the state, as well as the lack of jobs requiring a degree, likely makes it difficult to find motivation for higher education. With a more diversified economy, there would be greater demand and thus greater incentive for high academic performance.
Another helpful step would be increasing the representation of young people on school boards. Numerous students discussed how even when they try to engage or come up with helpful ideas, they are rarely taken seriously or listened to in any meaningful way.
If adults want students to take themselves and their future seriously, adults must lead by example and take students seriously. That’s one of the great things about the Sun Youth Forum. Students like me brought their hearts to this discussion. We all agreed that to create a brighter future, we must look to rebuilding our home, Nevada is a state of progress — and to progress, we must spark change.
