On November 13^th, 2013, schools from all over the Clark County School District went to the annual Sun Youth Forum. About 1,000 students attended the event to discuss their opinion on world problems and how they could be solved.

The Sun Youth Forum is an annual event inviting almost 1,000 CCSD juniors and seniors to the Las Vegas Convention Center. They are assigned topics and are put into a room filled with at least 20 students.

Mrs. Heather Allen, an AP and honors U.S. History teacher, chaperoned Spring Valley’s 19 students at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

“Ms. Langhorst and I chose students that we felt were suited for this event,” said Allen. “We did this so that we could have as many of our students get elected as representative in one of their discussion groups, or even earn a scholarship.”

These students that attend take challenging courses and are recommended by teachers that observe their persuasive and diplomatic thinking. If a student stands out to an observer who evaluates discussion rooms, they will be one of the three to earn a scholarship.

“My topic was Potpourri, which had a little bit of every problem from different topics,” said Junior, Lindsay Richey.

Two out of the 19 students from Spring Valley were elected to be representatives for their groups, which are Junior, Meriem Messaoudi and Senior, John Teague. As Messauodi discussed her topic Law and Crime, she dominated the floor during their Socratic seminar.

“The trick is to give valid points and have an opinion that can relate to others,” said Messaoudi. “You also need to understand global policy so that your group knows that you understand what you’re talking about.”