2008 Woodie Awards
Women's Self-Defense Seminar teaches survival methods to Lewis students and staff
Joe Tippett
Issue date: 10/28/05 Section: News
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Do you know what to do if attacked? Do you have a plan of escape? Do you know how to properly defend yourself? These are some of the questions the Lewis University Security Department hoped they could help students answer at a self-defense seminar held Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2005.
"Women need to know that they don't have to be the victim, they don't have to take it," said Lewis University Director of Security Gary Benda. He, along with fellow security guard Lynn Stancik, held a seminar called S.A.F.E., or Self Defense Awareness and Exchange, which was sponsored by the National Self-Defense Institute (NSDI).
The goal of the seminar was to educate students on self-defense awareness for women and familiarize them with the possibility of future self-defense training. "No one is going to leave here an expert," said Benda.
The seminar was held to test the waters and see how many students, mainly females, would be interested in learning more about self-defense. "The goal of the seminar is to educate women that they have options if they are being victimized," said Benda.
Stancik gave tips to students in attendance on how to stay safe on campus, explained what self-defense is, showed a video, and handed out a pamphlet from the NSDI. The pamphlet, along with the video, went into further detail about women's options, how not to look like a victim, myths of self-defense, and different elements of self-defense.
At the end of the seminar, Stancik demonstrated five simple physical and verbal techniques, which included yells of "no" and "stay back," followed by a palm strike to the face, and a knee strike to the groin.
"We would like to hold these seminars at least once a semester," said Benda. He said that if there was enough interest, he would arrange for a much more extensive eight-to-12-hour self-defense seminar with an instructor from the NSDI.
