Fifty-six percent is the number of students surveyed at Mission High School who admitted to witnessing or being the victim of teen dating violence.
That is almost double the national average of 33 percent.
"Getting abused, especially here in high school, can follow you to college,” Vanessa Rodriguez said. “We want to help people speak up. We don't want them to be afraid to tell others that they're getting abused."
Sulema Orive said she witnessed abuse first hand, but did not say anything.
"We were walking to class sophomore year and we saw a guy hitting a girl and she was crying,” Orive explained. “He was telling her a lot of mean stuff. He had her in the corner and the girl didn't know what to do. We were going to try and help--but we thought he would hit us too."
Orive did not say anything.
She told Action 4 News that she now knows that keeping quiet was not the right thing to do.
"That's one of the mistakes that we did. We should have told an adult."
In an effort to change the mindset of teens, the group DECA has created a campaign called ‘Love Doesn’t Hurt.’
"I feel like we're already making a difference,” John Diaz said. “We do have people that come up and say 'thank you for what you’re doing.”
They are hoping their involvement will push teens in violent relationships to come forward before it is too late.
February 9th the group will host a walk at Tom Landry Stadium in Mission.
Registration will begin at 9 a.m. and the walk starts at 10 a.m.
All of the proceeds will go to Mujeres Unidas.
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