''My first memory of being sexually assaulted was even before the age of kindergarten,'' Sharon Fielding, 44, told a group of about 50 law enforcement officers, rape crisis counselors, prosecutors and fellow victims yesterday.

''Sexual assault touches a person so deep, words cannot even explain the humiliation, the shame, the guilt,'' said Fielding, who is an advocate at the Lorain County Rape Crisis Center.

Victims Speak Out, sponsored by the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office and the Rape Crisis Center, was described by organizers as commemorating all victims, but especially those who have been sexually abused.

The numbers are staggering: Every two minutes, an American is sexually assaulted, and 41 percent of sexual crimes happen to victims who are 18 years or younger; 15 percent happen to victims younger than 12, according to Clare Cygan Young, Rape Crisis Center director.

Only about a third of sexual assaults are reported to the police, Young said.

Fielding and a retired teacher both spoke about their experiences yesterday in the hope of drawing attention to the often-unreported crime and to provide solace to victims of abuse.

The retired teacher told a sorrowful tale of being sent to live with an abusive aunt after her mother died when she was just 6 years old. Her aunt's son, who was eight years older than her, began sexually abusing her almost as soon as she arrived, she said.

''I told Mary (the aunt) about it and she said I was either lying or it was my fault,'' the woman said. ''Six years old and it was my fault.''

Also yesterday, three area high school students won awards for an abuse education poster contest, and two Oberlin students who raised $2,500 for the Rape Crisis Center were recognized.

Nicole Dubash, a ninth-grader from Lorain Admiral King High School, won first place for her poem, ''Wilting''; 12th-grade Brookside High School student Lauren Zaleski won second place for a collage about sexual abuse; and Marion Steele High School 11th-grader Nicole Lucas won third place for a poster detailing the anguish rape victims face.

''It's just a beautiful thing everyone is here sharing their love and support,'' Lucas said. ''It's love and support that helps victims deal with their pain.''

Megan Huelsenbeck, a 22-year-old Oberlin college student majoring in religion, and Melissa Threadgill, a 21-year-old politics major, raised $2,500 for the crisis center earlier this year through a poetry slam and a local production of ''The Vagina Monologues.''