Jose Espana and Kevin Carter are 17-year-old juniors
attending Sparks high schools. Both are active in their student councils.
But that’s where the teenagers’ similarities end.
Espana crossed the U.S.-Mexico border a month before he
turned 3 years old. Last year his parents divorced and he lives with his
father who is a cook.
Kevin Carter, a sixth generation Nevadan, was born to
Chris and Kathy Carter and has lived an upper middle class life in Sparks.
His mother is a public information officer for Washoe County.
Born only two months apart, the pair would have never
crossed paths, except for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) which
brought them together last month. It was Espana’s first camp and one of
Carter’s numerous outings since he had been in Boy Scouts.
“The best part was the personalities I got to interact
with,” said Carter, who is student body treasurer at Reed High school.
“The problems they face in their lives — they’re doing
great things to overcome adversities,” Carter said. “I have been very
fortunate. Sometimes what I have to face pales in comparison.”
The Sparks Rotary club raised money to send the youngsters
to a six-day camp at Granlibbaken near Tahoe City, Calif. It costs $600 to
send one person to RYLA.
For Espana, it was a break from his summer schedule where
he gets up at 6 a.m. to go to $7-an-hour job as a trailer loader at Mervyn’s.
In the afternoons, he goes to soccer practice, gets home
for dinner about 8 p.m.
“There’s a lot of Hispanics that don’t give us a correct
reputation,” said Espana, who is student body president at Sparks High.
“When they go to meet me they realize not all Hispanics are the same.”
The camp takes teenagers between their junior and senior
high school years to prepare them for future leadership roles.
The candidates who apply to go to RYLA have been selected
by their teachers or school administrators.
Camp organizers meet with potential participants in
February and March.
They choose the youth based on their grade point average,
personal essay, extracurricular activities and how they present themselves
during the interviews.
“You can just tell they’re exceptional people,” said Vicki
Puliz, camp director. “They’re involved in all sorts of activities in their
school. They’re multi-focused in their life.”
Organizers said 72 young women and 42 young men from
Northern Nevada and Northern California were selected for this year’s camp.
“It was great. You learn to lead but you don’t always
follow,” Jose Espana said. “It was nice to follow and be in good hands.”
At RYLA, the teenagers learned how to work with each other
through teamwork exercises such as a ropes course, listened to motivational
lectures, worked on a yearbook and newspaper, participated in public
speaking sessions and group discussions.
Organizers said they wanted to have youth with different
backgrounds to mix and learn from each other.
“Leaders rise to challenges,” said Joe Donohue, camp
director of RYLA. “Sometimes if people don’t have challenges, they don’t
develop leadership skills. Sometimes it requires some kind of adversity to
develop some kind of talent.”
In the evenings, the youth reflected on what they had
learned. There were no CDs or cellphones.
“The important thing is they’re going to be people leading
the country coming from all backgrounds,” Puliz said.
“It’s very inspiring to see how these young leaders build
relationships with each other. It makes me feel like we can help our youth
take the world on in a positive way.”
Carter was amazed to learn Espana played soccer year round
and still had time to be student body president.
“For him to take it up, it’s a lot more than what I can
do,” Carter said.
They shared expectations on the ride to Tahoe City and
experiences on the way back to the Truckee Meadows.
On the way, Espana told Carter about a program his high
school had started, holding assembly at middle schools to get kids excited
about high school.
Carter wants to incorporate that program at Reed High
where he continues to take student leadership classes while Espana headed
back to a grueling schedule of work and soccer.
“I’m glad he can understand where I’m coming from,” Espana
said. “He was able to see past my culture and heritage.”
Since the camp session ended, there has been talk of
another get together, perhaps under more relaxing circumstances.
“We’re trying to make sure that one week wasn’t the only
time we met so we can continue our friendships,” Carter said.
