Cabrillo Student Dies in Fall After Drinking

by Max Lopez

Cabrillo students and faculty are mourning the loss of 19-year-old Angel-Jose Camberos Rosas who fell off a cliff to his death while intoxicated, according to authorities. He was found at the foot of a cliff on Front Street and Pacific Avenue on Nov. 16.

Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark has worked too many cases involving substance abuse to be surprised, he said, “but it breaks our hearts when we see promise and hope ended in one night because of a few bad decisions.”

According to family, the day Angel died he worked his first shift at Mission Street BBQ; his first job. He met up with some friends who were having a party that night and never made it home. His family is still unsure why he was alone.

 “He had always been responsible,” Rosas’s aunt Angelina Diaz Avila said. “His mom texted him at one that night and he never replied,”

Rosas’s studies were always important to him, said Avila. He was studying journalism at Cabrillo and considered transferring to San Francisco State University and pursuing a career in media.

Rosas stood out among his classmates in his Mass Communication course, journalism instructor Brad Kava said.

“He was an A-student and he was sincere,” he said. “He had unlimited potential and I was looking forward to working more with him.”

Since Rosas’s death, Avila said she’s found a new appreciation for her family.

“Appreciate what you have and make every moment the best,” she said. “Life is precious and tomorrow isn’t promised.”  

 (Editor's Note: I was his journalism teacher, as quoted in the story, and he is really a great loss. He was one of the best students I've ever had and was a really serious person, not a partier, which makes it all the more tragic.)