Stabbing victim attempts to make a turnaround

He sees the scar when he undresses at night and glances at it while he gets ready for school in the morning. Sliding lopsidedly from his heart and curving thickly across his upper chest, the mark is a constant reminder of the knife that sliced into him on May 31, 2002. He remembers the deep redness of the blood from the penetrating wound. He remembers sliding into a dark daze, ambulance sirens wailing in what seemed like a shadowy distance. The wound almost cost him his life during his freshman year, when he was stabbed by a former Blazer near Four Corners.

Now, after overcoming the near-death experience, senior Eber Gonzalez returns to Blair determined to graduate and resolve the mistakes that he made as a freshman. No longer the same careless 15-year-old known for persistent misbehavior, Gonzalez has elicited the admiration of teachers and faculty members for his determination to make an academic turnaround.

"Young and dumb"

Two years ago, Gonzalez snuck out of school through the back hallways, waltzed into class long after the late bell and sat indifferently in his administrator's office when called there. His apathetic attitude towards his education resulted in constant calls home and in-school suspensions. "I'd walk out, I'd skip [class] and my behavior towards teachers was bad. When they'd get on my nerves, I'd say smart stuff and get written up all the time," Gonzalez says. "School just wasn't important to me."

Senior Melissa Cruz, Gonzalez's cousin, claims his behavior grew worse as his freshman year progressed. "He just didn't behave in school," she says. "It's not that he was a bad kid; he just kept acting up."

Gonzalez can't understand the cause of his own misconduct. "It was just like I, for real, didn't care," he says shaking his head. "I was just young and dumb. And it kept going like that, with me not caring. I just kept causing problems."

In May of 2002, Gonzalez's "causing problems" took a turn for the worse. Leaving school grounds during 5B lunch, he and some friends headed to Four Corners to meet another group of boys with whom Gonzalez had been having problems. Soon after, Gonzalez and a former Blazer began to fight. Gonzalez was stabbed.

"It was one of the scariest days of my life. I felt like my heart dropped when I found out," says senior Jessica Arias, a close friend of Gonzalez's since middle school. Arias remembers crying uncontrollably during class when she first found out.

Gonzalez was immediately rushed to the hospital and was nearly pronounced dead when his heart stopped two hours after arriving there. However, he made a miraculous recovery with the help of doctors.

After several months, Gonzalez was released from the hospital and returned to Blair where he, his parents and Assistant Principal Patricia Hurley sat down to discuss his future.

Hurley expressed her deep concern for Gonzalez and listed possible solutions to his worried parents. In addition to a long record of bad behavior and absences, Gonzalez had already been in danger of both LC-ing and failing his classes. Because of the stabbing incident, Gonzalez was seen as a "danger" to Blair, according to Hurley, and needed to be sent to an alternative school. "She told me she thought this program, Randolph Academy, would be good for me," says Gonzalez.

Remembering Randolph

Randolph Academy is an alternative school designed to serve 50 of the most highly disruptive students in Montgomery County for a semester to a year, according to Montgomery County Pupil Personnel Director Stan Truman. In addition, the program provides counseling for students.

Upon arriving, Gonzalez swore Hurley was completely wrong. His classmates' behavior immediately astonished him. "Man, you go to these places, and you're like, ‘I don't belong here!'" he says. "It was wild—there'd be fights all the time, and the kids had real bad attitudes toward teachers. It makes you not want to be bad! You're like [forget] this, I'm gonna change."

After spending time with the students, Gonzalez claims he began to feel more at ease with the school community. "At first, you feel isolated, and you don't want to talk to anyone. But then you start talking to the kids and the teachers and realize you got stuff in common." He chuckles as he remembers his initial conversations with some of his friends at Randolph. "The first thing you ask is, ‘What'd you do? Why'd they put you in here?' It's like jail."

Still, the fact that Gonzalez was associating with kids who had behavior problems worried him. "I was scared I'd have a rack of the same friends and start messing up again," he says. However, with Randolph's structured environment, Gonzales began to change for the better. "They make you talk about your family and why you're angry and just all these things you don't really talk about," he remembers. "Then you got teachers talking to you like normal, asking you why you're acting up and why you're trying to be hard." He adds quietly, "You start seeing that behaving bad doesn't make you bigger and that for real, the more education you have, the better you're gonna do. It forces you to stop being a [dummy]."

Gonzalez was released from Randolph Academy and began attending Blair again this year. No longer caught leaving school through the back hallways or starting fights with other students, Gonzalez has astonished teachers with his new behavior. "They'll come up to me and tell me I've changed, and it feels good," he says.

"I am gonna be something"

One of those impressed includes Administrator Linda Wolf, who marvels at Gonzalez's new attitude towards his education. His maturation, Wolf believes, resulted from Gonzalez's reflection of past mistakes. "If he hadn't gotten hurt, he might have continued on a wrong path," she says. "Eber got a second chance, and he's taking advantage of it."
Another equally impressed staff member is math teacher Earl Lindsey, who knew Gonzalez as a freshman. "I'm so proud of Eber compared to how he used to be," Lindsey beams. "He's made so much progress."

Still, Lindsey acknowledges that his behavior is not always perfect. "He still has a few bad habits, like hanging out with his friends so much, and he still [has to] work with his probation officer to improve behavior," he admits. However, Lindsey believes the fact that Gonzalez is trying to graduate is commendable. "He goes to Night School every day; his attendance has gotten so much better." Lindsey proudly announces that Gonzalez is currently boasting an A in both of Lindsey's classes.

Gonzalez, who is now finishing his credits to graduate this year, claims his new perspective on education fuels him to work hard in order to secure a prosperous future. "I'm gonna stay here, learn as much as I can and just do good. I used to be this hyper kid—school wasn't important to me—but now I'm really trying to be something. I am gonna be something. I'm going to start a business and watch—I'm gonna hit a million before 21," he declares. "I'm gonna do it."