Playing it safe: High school seniors learn self-defense skills

They started with wrist grabs and ended the day learning how to kick and punch an attacker.

Senior girls at Columbus East High School left school on March 7 feeling more prepared to defend themselves after completing a day-long self-defense training course.

The Situational Awareness for Everyday (SAFE) course is a one-day safety and awareness class designed for high school senior girls preparing to go to college or be on their own. It’s taught by officers from the Columbus Police Department and troopers from the Indiana State Police.

“In this school they get math, they get English and they get all the core things, but something we had been missing up to that point is teaching these young ladies to defend themselves,” said Julie Quesenbery, a CPD sergeant and a school resource officer at East.

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

Click here to purchase photos from this gallery

“And not just that, but how to keep themselves safe and really those things about avoidance in awareness — being aware and avoiding bad situations if you can,” Quesenbery said.

About 100 girls from Columbus East, Columbus Christian School, Hauser High School and Greensburg High School attended the first SAFE course of the year. A second class will be at Columbus North High School for senior girls on March 29.

Senior Reagin Branaman, 18, will start classes at the University of Southern Indiana in the fall. She said the SAFE class made her less naive and reminded her of the need to be more aware of her surroundings.

“I don’t really go outside of Columbus very much so I feel like it’s very important to know what to do in foreign environments and how to protect yourself if something dangerous were to happen to you,” Branaman said.

The day is split into two portions — a classroom period where officers teach the young women about red flags to be aware of and the physical tactics lesson in the afternoon.

Quesenbery said she isn’t trying to train MMA fighters through the physical exercises, but instead wants young women to have these tactics in their toolbox.

Branaman partnered with senior Sarah Park, 18, during the physical tactics portion. The two girls performed several different exercises together led by Quesenberry and CPD physical tactics instructor Angie Owens.

Tactics ranged from learning how to evade a shoulder grab to how to get out of a choke hold from an attacker.

“It’s kind of cool because I think as women we feel like we’re smaller and weaker,” Park said. “Knowing that we have small little things that can help us get out of bad situations and also that we have people like the police officers who actually care about us and want to protect us and our safety — that’s really important to know we have a support system.”

Park said the physical portion of the class was the most fun and energizing, but foresees herself using the red flags more — getting herself out of a situation before it turns violent.

The class is built around learning skills and identifying red flags that women can use to reduce their chances of victimization, especially during the next four years, a time Quesenbery calls both the most exciting and the riskiest of young women’s lives.

“I hope that at the end of the day, they leave feeling really confident; that they know how to keep themselves safe and the extra step to say, ‘All right if you had to get out of a physical situation, this is how you do it,’” Quesenbery said. “My goal for them is to leave so much more confident than they walked in the door in the morning.”

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Next session” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

When: March 29

Where: Columbus North High School

Who: Columbus North 12th grade girls; led by Columbus Police Department and the Indiana State Police

[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”What girls learn” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

During the day-long SAFE course, officers provide tips and information on how female students can be safe at college and away from school. The afternoon class session is dedicated to basic physical tactics, taught by police officers.

[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”For a video” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

To view a video of the self-defense tactics class, go to therepublic.com.

[sc:pullout-text-end]