Youth Council, June 13, 1996

Youth council will help steer state Lisa Sciortino Thursday, June 13, 1996 | 11:59 a.m. When they talk, the governor will listen. At least that's the idea behind Nevada's new Youth Advisory Council. Gov. Bob Miller recently appointed 10 teens from around the state, including four from Las Vegas, to serve for two years on the council, which will be overseen by the State Health Division's Maternal and Child Health Advisory Board. Chosen through an application and essay-writing process, the youth council's job is to advise the governor's office and other state agencies on issues affecting Nevada youths. The idea for the council followed a report earlier this year on the state's skyrocketing teen pregnancy rate. According to the State Health Division, in 1994, 268 babies a month were born to teenage mothers in Nevada. Out of 1,000 girls (ages 15-17) living in Nevada, 63 were pregnant at any given time during that same year. Coming up with ways to curb the problem will be the youth council's top priority. "Teen pregnancy is an issue which affects the parents for the rest of their lives, but it can be prevented," Miller said in a press release. "This will be done by educating those of us who will make decisions affecting young adults and helping teens make informed, responsible decisions." The Youth Advisory Council will hold the first of its four annual meetings later this month in Reno. Members are looking forward to voicing their opinions and ideas. Especially Chris Pandelis, who knows several teenage mothers. He's no stranger to the political process either, having spent a semester in Washington, D.C., as a U.S. Senate page. "I thought I probably had something to contribute," he says of his decision to get involved with the council. As for teen pregnancy, the recent Bishop Gorman High School graduate says, "It's tragic that it's become such a problem with our generation. Once that happens, you're never gonna have the same life that everyone else does. Your whole life is altered." He thinks Nevada students would benefit from more safe-sex education. On the other hand, Joshua Winchell would like to see a more hard-nosed approach to the problem. "You play, you pay," he says. Part of the Green Valley High School grad's stance may come from his work as an HIV/AIDS counselor in the health center at UNLV. "It's just made me a lot more aware of what's going on in the community." Some young mothers, he says, "have babies and they still have all this money to buy clothes and go shopping and get their nails done, but they complain that they don't get help from the government, extra money because they're a teen with a child. "If they want to be responsible enough to take that burden of having sex, they should be responsible of taking care of their child" with some financial aid. Eventually, council members say, they'd like to tackle other pertinent issues, including drug abuse, abortion and date rape. Juvenile crime is a big one for Rosalyn Jackson. The UNLV freshman would like to see young offenders "giving back to the community. I think that would be a very positive thing for the kids to do." The 18-year-old plans to take her new appointment "lightly, until I see what direction the council is going in. Maybe some issues can get resolved." And who knows? After they're done directing lawmakers, "Maybe we can just talk to the kids and tell them, 'You don't have to go out and join a gang or get pregnant,'" she says.