Catholic school students were among the nearly 3,000 youth participating in an annual Holocaust Remembrance Day April 20 at Pan Pacific Park in Los Angeles.

The city-wide youth commemoration included students from Cathedral Chapel School, Sacred Heart Elementary and High Schools, Daniel Murphy High School and St. Matthias High School in Downey. They joined with students from Abraham J. Heschel Day School, Adat Ari-el, and Tarbut V'Torah High School, among others.

Chris Anthony Torralba, one of a hundred students from Daniel Murphy High School, said his studies in the Holocaust have helped him to appreciate people of other faiths.

"I've learned to look at the world from different perspectives and not judge people [by their religion]. This tragedy happened because people misjudged others," said Torralba.

During the mid-day cultural arts program, youth taught each other about the Holocaust by taking turns singing, reading essays about the Hungarian Holocaust, and reciting passages from "The Diary of Anne Frank." This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Hungary and the beginning of the Hungarian Holocaust.

The youth commemoration was sponsored by the Los Angeles Holocaust Monument, The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, and The Jewish Federation.

Margarita Mendoza, a junior at Sacred Heart High School, said that considering current global conflicts between people of different faiths, the youth interreligious commemoration gave her hope.

"It's a preface to how we could get along," said Mendoza.

On April 21, students at Sacred Heart High School held a school-wide prayer service --- Shoah Remembrance Day --- in memory of Jews who died during the Holocaust. Students were joined by a Holocaust survivor and a representative of the Anti-Defamation League.

Religion teacher Theresa Yugar said she wants her students to learn how to engage in interfaith dialogue and how to model peaceful relations. "I want them to be part of the reconciliation," she said.