One by one, the three 2015 miss debutantes twirled past the tables filled with wide-eyed junior high school girls. The debs, in their ruffled ball gowns with lace bodices and sateen-finished full skirts, full-length gloves and tiaras, imparted a regal grace to the humble Westside church banquet hall.

It’s quiet at the corner of Jackson Avenue and F Street, where empty lots and vacant buildings define the historic landscape. A man rides by on his bicycle. A car occasionally passes through the intersection, and a security guard sits down on a chair outside the old New Town Tavern.

Every February, public schools turn their focus to the story of African Americans, under the banner of Black History Month. Mostly focusing on slavery and civil rights, students learn of the struggles and triumphs that shape the black experience. But as the tradition has carried on, it has also picked up detractors, who view it as outdated, even condescending.

Bucket lists. Thanks to a 2007 film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, it's become our go-to term in describing our own lists of things that we want to do or experience while we still can.

Nevada became a state on October 31, 1864, but Clark County wasn't part of it for another three years. Do some people in the north still regret that inclusion?

The director of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV is writing a book that will include a chapter titled: "Frank Sinatra Did Not Integrate Las Vegas: The Black Community's Attainment of Equal Public Accommodations."

Study hard. Plan your time. Meet people. All are nuggets of advice incoming college freshmen often hear. And while they're great as far as they go, they may not cover the breadth of the college experience for new students.

Some of the most powerful women in Las Vegas give credit where it’s due—to the women who mentored them. And they’re paying it forward to another generation of rising stars in the city.