Las Vegas Valley high school students march Tuesday on Las Vegas Boulevard, just north of Tropicana Avenue. About a 1,000 students from area high schools and middle schools joined the march in a show of solidarity with immigration reform protestors in other states. Photos by Clint Karlsen. Rancho High School students Florentino Juarez, 14, left, and Azucena Parra, 17, chant slogans with other high school students on Tropicana Avenue near the Strip Tuesday morning. The students marched to show their solidarity with immigration reform protestors in Northern Nevada, California, Arizona and Texas. Rosalie Buleca, 70, right, and Jean Ventura, 65, from Pittsburgh, Pa., clap in support of high school students marching on Las Vegas Boulevard Tuesday.

Rancho High School senior Maria Serna, arm in arm with a friend, marched with about 250 other students under cloudy skies up Tropicana Avenue Tuesday morning in support of her "people."

"We've been here forever, and it's wrong for them to try to kick us out," the upbeat 18-year-old said.

Serna, a Rancho student council treasurer, was one of about 1,000 local high school and middle school students who decided to skip class Tuesday to march along valley roadways, waving Mexican flags, chanting and carrying signs with messages such as "It's our country too" and "Honk if you are Hispanic" in a show of solidarity with immigration reform protesters in several states.

Students said they might have another protest march Friday morning.

Serna's group included students from Rancho and Chaparral High School and Southern Nevada Vocational-Technical Center.

They met near Tropicana and Maryland Parkway, then marched west to Las Vegas Boulevard, then took the Strip to Flamingo Road.

Serna led the group in chants such as "La raza unida jamas sera vencida," or "The united (Hispanic) race will never be defeated."

Tourists and Strip hotel workers stood by cheering, snapping pictures and high-fiving the mostly Hispanic student protesters.

Several handbillers attempted to pass out adult-oriented pamphlets to the students, most of whom refused to accept them.

One older man with a stack of suggestive pamphlets yelled at the students to "stay in school. Otherwise, you'll end up doing this for a living!"

The students headed west on Flamingo to Arville Street, eventually ending up at Clark High School's football field near Arville and Spring Mountain Road, making the walk a distance of about five miles.

A second group of about 700 students had marched separately on Spring Mountain to Clark.

The student protesters represented at least six high schools including El Dorado, Canyon Springs and Western. At least a handful of students from Keller Middle School also marched.

Las Vegas police blocked traffic and escorted students while they marched. The demonstration was relatively peaceful and orderly, police said, but five people were arrested.

Two adults were arrested for being on school property, and two adults were arrested for disturbing the peace, according to Bill Cassell, a Las Vegas police spokesman.

A juvenile also was arrested, but Cassell did not know what the charges were.

"Metro's primary goal in this was to keep the students safe while they voice their concerns," he said.

VoTech senior Cesar Corona, 17, said he was marching to protest racism and because of the possibility that his family might be separated by sweeping immigration reform being considered by the Senate.

"I was born in Mexico and became a citizen when I was 13 years old," Corona said as he walked past the MGM Grand. He said some of his extended family members are in the United States illegally, "working and trying to improve themselves."

Corona said his parents also are U.S. citizens and that his father owns a landscaping business. He called some legislators' efforts to toughen immigration laws "trying to wipe out the entire (Hispanic) race."

Several students became fatigued on the long trek.

"I need some water," one girl said as she rested on a patch of grass next to a gas station on Flamingo.

"I'm hungry," another said, wiping sweat from her forehead.

The students eventually congregated on the bleachers at Clark for a mini-rally before quietly boarding buses back to their respective campuses. The demonstration wrapped up just after noon.

Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes said he was disappointed that some students chose to participate in the demonstration. The timing was bad, he said, because high school students were doing last-minute preparation for the high school proficiency exam on Thursday.

"The notion that a student can just pick up and walk out of a school is not acceptable," Rulffes said. "Never mind the cause, students should not be participating in a protest during school hours."

Pat Nelson, a spokeswoman for the district, said the students who missed school for the march will be counted as absent.

But Chaparral High School senior Benjamin Rodriguez said the school district should support the students.

"We are not doing this to cut school or miss classes," he said. "We are doing this to spread the word. We're missing school for a good cause."

Asked whether his parents knew he was missing school, Rodriguez hesitated.

"My parents will know I'm doing this for a reason," he said. "I'm supporting a cause. Not everybody has the blessing of being born in this country. They have to hop the border to take advantage of the great opportunities this country provides."

Rulffes said school officials called parents of absent students Tuesday.

He was not concerned that some might perceive that the school system was supporting the rally because many students were bused from Clark back to their respective schools.

He said the district provided buses because having students walk back to their campuses would create a safety issue.

Students said they began organizing the protest late last week via cell phone calls and word of mouth.

Many also had posted messages online at the popular social networking Web site MySpace.com.

Some said they heard about the planned march Monday on Spanish-language radio station KISF 103.5.

Review-Journal writers Antonio Planas, Brian Haynes and Frank Curerri contributed to this report.