Growing up in Las Vegas: Memories of Childhood in the Neon City

Las Vegas Nevada is a thriving city with a robust economy that attracts tourists and residents alike from all over the country and the world. While the city’s growth has been an economic boon it has had its negative consequences to include a transient population. Since most students are not from Las Vegas and many have been here for only a short time the city lacks a sense of community found in older more established urban centers. Some have claimed that Las Vegas is a city without a past. The goal of my project is to design a learning unit that will build a sense of community and create a feeling of continuity between Las Vegas’s older residents and those that have recently arrived. Students will learn how to plan and conduct oral history interviews to include transcription and cataloging, students will also learn technological skills to include website design, pod cast creation and documentary film making.

The major focus of my project will include students using digital voice recorders to interview residents who grew up in Las Vegas. In conducting the oral history interviews students will learn that despite many significant changes in Las Vegas some things remain the same. I will have students focus on several aspects of growing up in Las Vegas to include school, recreation, and family life. Interviewees may include family members, veterans, and other long time Las Vegas residents. After the oral histories have been completed I will have students design a website/blog where images and interviews can be posted and viewed by the community. I will also have students transcribe the interviews and arranged topically to be used in the creation of book concerning the experience of students of yesterday and today. Finally I will have students assemble the images, and oral histories into a documentary that will be broadcasted on public access television and presented to students and parents during a "movie release party."