Sexual assault survivor hopes to inspire change by sharing story
Caroline Medina in the summer of 2013. Photo provided by Caroline Medina and used with permission.
DOWNEY — By most measures, Caroline Medina looked to be a typical 15-year-old student in the summer of 2013.
An “awkward, music-loving emo girl” is how she described herself. Streaks of turquoise ran through her jet black hair and her shy smile revealed braces just about ready to come off. She played the bass drum in Warren High’s marching band.
Caroline had a boyfriend -- her first real romantic relationship -- and life appeared exciting as she prepared for her junior year.
“I was in my first relationship and it wasn’t a very healthy one, I would say,” Caroline recently recalled. “That person did sexually assault me, he raped me.”
Caroline is one of several former students who have come forward in recent weeks to share allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment. Faculty members have been accused of directing inappropriate comments towards students, while administrators were criticized for not protecting young victims of sexual violence.
The online movement also raised questions about sexual education in schools, specifically in terms of consent.
Caroline publicly shared her story on Twitter last week. The Downey Patriot does not usually print names of sexual assault victims but Caroline asked to be identified in hopes of inspiring other survivors.
“It was very difficult for me to get out of there because I wasn’t a very strong person nor at the time did I really know what happened,” Caroline said of her assault. “It was very difficult for me to process because it was my first relationship and I was infatuated with this person -- I felt very manipulated.
“I didn’t really understand what was going on and I felt like it was something that I had done. Maybe this is what love was supposed to be? But they’d never talked about what consent was or anything like in the school system either, so I had no idea what any of that meant.”
Caroline didn’t plan on contacting the police but she had no choice after confiding to a teacher about her assault. As a mandated reporter, the teacher reported the incident to administrators.
“At the end of the school day, I was called into the office and the counselor just pulled me in, had me close the door, and they said I needed to call the police and I had to tell my mom what happened,” Caroline remembered. “And this was about 10 months after it had happened, so I was just trying to suppress it and forget that it even happened, so it just reopened everything all over again.”
Caroline headed to the police station that evening and gave a detailed report. As part of the investigation, Caroline had to call her abuser and get him to talk about their sexual history, she said.
The district attorney’s office ultimately declined to press charges.
“They essentially said there was nothing they could do for me,” Caroline said.
To make matters worse, Caroline said she was denied a leadership position in the band and color guard because the band director labeled her a “distraction.”
“I went in for a leadership interview and he told me, and those words are burned into my brain, he said, ‘You are the most qualified person for this position but I’m not inclined to give it to you because you are a liability to me and my organization because of all the drama you created and the problems that follow you.’
“Hearing that from someone who was supposed to be an example for me really made me feel kind of worthless.”
Looking back, Caroline says the school could have done a better job of taking her situation seriously, especially since her alleged attacker was a fellow student.
“I didn’t feel like I was protected,” Caroline said. “With my counselor, I didn’t feel that they were a person I could feel comfortable going to talk to about it. They didn’t offer me any resources within my community where I could seek help. I wasn’t offered any type of protection or anything to make me feel safe.
“A large part of the reason we’re having an uprising now for wanting to change the school district is because the school district isn’t offering those types of things to students now.”
Caroline also recommended the school district include resources on the back of students’ ID cards, such as help for mental health.
“I feel like it would benefit students, whether it be a mental health resource or even a counselor that’s dedicated to talk to them about what they’re going through. I felt like with my counselor in high school, I could only really talk to them if I needed help with advising.”
Today, Caroline works for Aspire, the after-school program on Downey school campuses. She interacts with middle schoolers and tries to be a role model for the children.
After going public with her experiences, Caroline says reaction has been overwhelmingly positive online. It reinforced her decision to talk openly and control the narrative of her story.
“I knew with the societal culture that we’re living in, with me sharing my own story, it would inspire and encourage others people to share their stories, and that way people can see how big of a story it really is,” she said.
Last month, Downey Unified announced the creation of a Human Relations Council whose purpose is to “develop an equity plan that supports and provides resources to improve our Downey Unified School District practices in acknowledging and addressing issues of safety, inequality, discrimination, accountability and systemic racism within our school system and community.”
Starting in July, the council will conduct virtual town hall meetings with students to address their concerns.
“I was willing to sacrifice a part of myself and I guess my well being,” Caroline said, “if it helps someone else find a little bit of strength that they didn’t know they had.”