Class at Cathedral High School teaches students how to cope with violence

It doesn’t exactly fall under the categories of reading, writing and arithmetic, but a course being offered at Cathedral High School is making an impact.

The course is called “The Principles of Victimology,” and focuses on teaching students how to both cope with violence and understand the dynamics of being a victim.

For Esteban Ochoa, a senior at Cathedral High School, the class has quickly become a favorite.

Ochoa lives in Ciudad Juarez, and crosses the border each day to attend school.

According to Ochoa, the class is not only interesting but very relevant to his life.

“Two friends of mine, two classmates, were killed in Juarez,” Ochoa said.

Those two students were Carlos Mario Gonzalez Bermudez, a Cathedral High student, and Juan Echeveeri Luna, an ex-Cathedral High student.

They were killed in February 2011; both only 15 years old.

The two boys were looking to purchase rims at a car lot when a group of armed men, looking for the owner of the lot, attacked and killed the teens.

“Living in Juarez, during the peak of the violence, felt like you were never really safe,” Ochoa said.

According to Ochoa, the class helps him cope with violence he’s seen within his community.

“This class has taught me a lot about the enduring effects of crime on the victim themselves,” he said.

Ochoa isn’t the only student to feel a connection to the course.

Carlos Chavira, a Cathedral High senior, moved to El Paso around five years ago from Juarez. He said the move was a direct result of violence.

For Chavira, the class is helping him down a career path. He hopes to some day study public policy, and help people like himself.

“This class has given me insight as to what can be done to prevent the victims of crimes from suffering even more,” Chavira said.

Many other students that spoke with ABC-7 agreed with Ochoa and Chavira, acknowledging the importance of the course in their lives.

The course began about three years ago when Chief Justice Richard Barajas, a graduate of Cathedral High School and a former Texas State Court of Appeals judge, developed the program.

He was involved with creating curricula for colleges on the subject, and decided to expand to secondary education.

Barajas said Cathedral High School seemed like the perfect location for the class, since the school focuses on building future leaders.

According to Barajas, reaction to the course has been overwhelmingly positive from both students and parents.

Overall, Barajas simply hopes it provides students with a new perspective.

“If there’s anything they’ve learned, it’s that it’s not for me or you or society to label them as a victim. It’s to teach them to let the victim define themselves,” Barajas said.