No topic too painful or sensitive for thoughtful teens to tackle

Editor’s note: About 550 Clark County high school students participated in the annual Sun Youth Forum on Sept. 11 at Clark 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. Adrian Trejo, a junior at Canyon Springs High School, tells of the students’ opinions in the session entitled “Teen Topics.

I hadn’t imagined I’d be sitting in a room, surrounded by a diverse group of people I’d never met and discussing everything from sexism to mental health to interactions with law enforcement. These are sensitive topics that hit home for people in deeply personal — and too often painful — ways.

But there I was, not only participating in the conversations but feeling heard, feeling alive and wishing I could have conversations like this more often with fellow students and adults.

The Sun Youth Forum invited students from a variety of backgrounds to share and discuss our perspectives and ideas in a long-overdue conversation about the world we live in but are so often overlooked in.

While society has spent years discussing sexism in politics, courtrooms and boardrooms, the participants in my discussion group dove into a conversation about the all-too-common problem of sexism in the classroom.

Despite the perception that young people don’t pay attention, almost all of us were keenly aware of school policies that cater to men and single out women. The Clark County School District’s dress code is a primary example, as young women are expected to meet a standard of “modesty” that is incredibly vague and enforced selectively based on the whims of individual adults. While the students in the room came from a great variety of backgrounds and belief systems, we all agreed that the dress code needs to be either clearly defined to create shared expectations, or eradicated.

A similar lack of clarity and consistent application of policies was a common theme in many of our discussions, including on one of the most important topics we discussed: mental health support.

Many students in CCSD have survived terrible and traumatic life experiences, yet when we try to find support, our experiences and emotions are minimized and dismissed.

Too many adults preach the gospel of mental health support but a system to provide effective and consistent support is lacking. Numerous students in my discussion group shared their disappointment with how poorly the school system answered their call for help.

However, there were glimmers of hope. Some students provided innovative and effective examples of how their specific schools or communities promote mental health, including “Zen Dens.”

“Zen Dens” are designated rooms or spaces where students can talk through their problems, steady their thoughts and calm turbulent emotions. By creating spaces with this intent, schools provide students with opportunities to learn and practice strategies for emotional and behavioral control that are essential to our future success — all while promoting mental health. More resources like “Zen Dens” should be made available throughout the district.

At the intersection of sometimes confusing expectations and escalating emotional and behavioral challenges are interactions with law enforcement and the question of whether schools should develop a curriculum on interactions with law enforcement.

Many students admitted that they have never been taught or instructed on what to do when they come in contact with law enforcement. Yet many of us believe it would be beneficial to the safety of our country and our communities if students and police were taught some universal strategies and expectations for calm yet confident interactions.

Regardless of the policies that are implemented, the most recurring theme of our conversation was the desire for students to feel safe, both physically and mentally while at school and in the community.

Talking through our experiences showed us that none of us is alone in feeling unsafe or uncomfortable. We also learned that talking through our experiences and perspectives could help build confidence in our ability to communicate our stories and our beliefs. And the willingness of adults to listen and make us feel heard provided us with a sense of security that young people have a role to play in making the world better for generations to come.