UNLV students get lessons in real world

Across from UNLV, there is a church. Inside that church Friday morning, a man who looked remarkably like Michael Jackson (post-crazy) joined a woman who kinda-sorta resembled Charo (pre-who?), in performing for poor and homeless children.

This was done at the behest of college students who are studying how to organize things.

It was the fifth annual DUSK project. DUSK stands for Destigmatizing and Understanding Street Kids.

The project joins sociology students, who know a thing or two about poor children, with hotel college students studying to become event planners.

It's part of a capstone course, the kind all UNLV students have to take before they can graduate. Capstones are supposed to teach students real world skills, as opposed to book learning.

Brian Pounds, 24, a senior who led the group that put the project together, said the effort was massive. The group includes 35 to 40 students.

These students got more than a dozen volunteer groups together, coordinated kids from homeless shelters and schools, organized donations, arranged to use the University United Methodist Church, and arranged the entertainment.

Those attending ranged in age from 12 to 21, and ranged from the merely poor -- at risk is the terminology -- to the truly homeless.

Counseling, job advice, haircuts, dental screenings, condoms, food and toiletries were made available.

They got to play video games; this was mostly the boys.

They got to see the "Dealertainers" from the Imperial Palace. They saw representatives from the district attorney's office, who helped them navigate the system of minor criminal infractions.

They got to shop through piles and piles of donated clothes; this seemed mostly to attract the girls.

UNLV senior Courtney Rowe, 22, a hospitality management student, looked on in the girls' clothing room while a group of middle-schoolers oooh'd and aaah'd over pink tops and free tennis shoes.

Most walked away with handbags full of free clothes.

Rowe, who wants to be a schoolteacher, said helping the girls felt really good.

Sociology professor Kate Hausbeck, whose students started this project five years ago, said this year's turnout seemed the biggest so far. By lunchtime, about 75 homeless or at risk kids had shown up.

"That's pretty impressive, that 35 students could get everything together," she said.

The event planning students benefited by getting actual experience planning an event. Sociology students benefitted by getting to interview and interact with homeless kids.

Nancy Matheny, a professor in the event management program, said many of her students will go on to plan galas, weddings and corporate events.

Working with the homeless, she said, could teach them a thing or two.

Some might even end up changing their career plans.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.