Watch for these young achievers among our future leaders

They're behind the scenes only for the moment. One day soon enough, they could be directing them.

Here are 10 young Las Vegans whose early accomplishments, community involvement and ability to inspire bode well for the valley's future.

Say hello to tomorrow's headline-makers.

NIKKI GIROUX

You can bank on hearing more from Nevada Commerce Bank's assistant vice president. Giroux, 28, also co-chairs the Young Philanthropist Society, sits on the board of the Risk Management Association of Las Vegas and co-chairs her bank's United Way campaign.

"I didn't grow up playing Monopoly and falling in love with banking," Giroux says. "But facing and overcoming the challenges that I do every day is a rewarding experience."

Nevada Commerce Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Kathy Phillips calls Giroux intelligent, hard-working and fun.

"I would not be surprised to see Nikki as president and CEO of a corporation," Phillips says.

MEL GOODWIN

This University of Nevada, Las Vegas senior says she wants to affect "large-scale change" in Nevada, and she's well on her way. As the grant writer for Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, Goodwin, 24, helped it raise $500,000 in both 2007 and 2008. And her crosshairs are just as intensely trained on discrimination. For the past year, she has been the youth and volunteer services director for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada.

"We've had challenges passing inclusive legislation in public accommodations and in employment nondiscrimination," Goodwin says, "and those were just from the last legislative session."

Goodwin is little interested in working inside the political system. She intends to shake it from the outside, pursuing a master's degree and advocating for issues as a social worker. The center's Executive Director Candice Nichols says Goodwin will be "an amazing leader," adding that "there are a lot of other ways you can affect change besides running for office."

ERIN RUSSELL-HAYES

Leadership runs in Erin Russell-Hayes' blood. Her grandfather was Charles Russell, Nevada's governor from 1951 to 1958.

Running also runs in her blood. Russell-Hayes, 32, is finishing a doctorate in public affairs at UNLV while working full time as a corporate lobbyist for Kaempfer Crowell. She also chairs the Nevada State Commission on Postsecondary Education and manages to find time to sit on the board of St. Jude's Ranch for Children.

"I love trying to help Nevada be a better place," says Russell-Hayes, who refuses to let anything slow her down -- even the freak stroke she suffered last September. (Russell-Hayes brushes off the subject, saying she's 95 percent recovered.)

"She's very thoughtful, thorough and astute," says state Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, for whom Russell-Hayes interned in 1999. "She'll be really good whatever she does."

ZHAN OKUDA LIM

You won't find many adolescents at a Clark County School Board meeting, but you'll find 17-year-old Zhan Okuda Lim at every one. At an age when he should be mastering video games, Lim already has a firm grasp of the political process. He serves as the student representative to the Nevada State Board of Education, chairman of the Clark County School District's school board student advisory committee, and a youth legislator for state Senate District 5.

"I play video games, too," Lim says. "But for me, when it's time to work, it's time to work."

At Valley High School, by the way, Lim is junior class president and student body president-elect.

"I want to give back," Lim says . "For me, at the end of every day, if I go home and I can know I've had a positive impact on even just one person, then it makes me feel better."

Eventually, Lim sees himself in a state senate seat, and state Sen. Shirley Breeden, D-Henderson, shares that vision.

"He's a born leader," Breeden says. "He's very intense, motivated, dedicated and committed. I think he could teach a lot of folks a few things."

KENNETH MINSTER II

This UNLV political science major is more politically active than many of his professors. Minster is convention manager for the Clark County Republican Commission, a member of the Young Republicans of Nevada and UNLV College Republicans, and co-founder of the Nevada Values Coalition.

"He's gregarious, efficient, focused and he's able to get people to rally around him," says Clark County Republican Party Chairman Bob Ruckman, who was impressed enough to assign Minster 40 volunteers to manage.

Minster, 21, sees himself, however, as more of a political outsider. His goal is to commentate.

"Like a Jon Ralston," Minster says. "I'm very interested in politics, but I don't want to be in politics because I actually want to keep my soul."

JUAN SERAFICA

In 20 years, being called to Mr. Serafica's office may not be a good thing. The 21-year-old UNLV senior, who majors in early childhood education, wants to be a Clark County School District principal.

"It's my big dream," says Serafica, who was born in the Philippines. "I have a huge passion for education and I'd like to help a school become a lot better through my actions."

Serafica is chief counsel for the UNLV student government, founder of the Raising Our Asian Rights club and a former intern for the Organization of Chinese Americans.

"This guy is everywhere," says Jose Melendrez, UNLV's assistant vice president of diversity and inclusion. "He's a real community-builder, and he has come to the forefront of taking on some pretty serious diversity issues around campus and in the community."

Come November, by the way, Serafica will achieve another dream: becoming an American citizen.

WILFREDO TORRES

Wilfredo Torres' interest in medicine began at 7 years old, when two close friends suffered violent deaths in El Salvador's civil war. Like them, Torres spent his earliest years hiding under his bed from stray bullets. He was just luckier.

"Just seeing that kind of suffering, I imagine it affected me on some kind of personal level," he says.

Torres, 28, graduates from the University of Nevada School of Medicine in May, before beginning a four-year residency at University Medical Center.

"One of the remarkable things about Wilfredo is the combination of his intelligence, his compassion and his humbleness," says Ann Diggins, the medical school's director of student services. "I think we need more people like him in Las Vegas, and particularly, more physicians like him."

DAVID WATERHOUSE

David Waterhouse was the powerhouse behind last year's student protests against state education cuts. The College of Southern Nevada's student body president organized two major rallies at the UNLV campus and multiple blitzes on Carson City.

"I've seen that one person can make a difference," says Waterhouse, 28.

Waterhouse got a late jump on politics, and college, coming to both after a decade as an information technology specialist in his native Seattle. He followed a friend to Las Vegas and enrolled at the college, where a political science class inspired him as deeply as Waterhouse did its professor, Mark Peplowski.

"He's very good at bringing people together," says Peplowski, who recommended Waterhouse for his current position as campaign fellow for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada. "When he believes in something, he goes all out."

TYRONDA "TY" WEINERT

At age 7, Ty Weinert worked the polls in Maryland's Prince George's County. Knowledge gleaned from that early start helped her get elected national committeewoman for her home state's Young Democrats. In Nevada, she was voted to the executive board of the state Democratic Party, where she sat on its budget and bylaws committees.

"For me, politics is kind of what basketball and football are to some young folks trying to get out of poor circumstances," Weinert, 34, says.

Once politics got her out, however, Weinert got out of politics. In 2006, she and her husband opened a Potato Valley Cafe franchise downtown.

"I figured I accomplished the main goals I wanted to," Weinert says, "so I'm trading politics for potatoes and I'm good to go."

Not quite. There turned out to be more famine than feast in the the potato business, and politics re-exerted their pull. At the pulling end was David Cohen, manager of Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid's gubernatorial campaign. Cohen says Weinert is "full of energy, full of enthusiasm, and always wanting to get out there and engage people."

JORDAN WIRSZ

Tony Robbins, check directly behind you. You might see a motivational speaker from Las Vegas with 14 worldwide speaking engagements booked this year.

"I help some really extraordinary people become that much more extraordinary," says Jordan Wirsz, 27, author of no less than four self-help books.

And he speaks from personal experience. Wirsz -- who began by selling Herbalife at 10 years old from the front basket of his bicycle -- earned his first million by age 23, by building and selling six technology, real-estate and finance companies.

"You got chutzpah, my young man," Donny Deutsch told Wirsz on his CNBC show, "The Big Idea," in 2007.