With Seniors heading off to college and the world changing everyday, you can’t be too prepared. You never know when you will need to use self defense in college, or just on a walk in your neighborhood. Luckly, The FHS Girl Up Club is making sure everyone is ready when this moment comes, although hopefully you never have to use it. The Girl Up Club is hosting a Women’s Self Defense Seminar May 11th from 2:30-3:30 in the FHS Gymnasium. For a small price of $5, girls will be learning different moves and strategies to keep themselves safe. 

The club joined teams with the America’s Best Defense in Franklin, who so graciously offered their services for the hour. President of the club, Lily Antonellis recounts on her experience with the company. While she attended their classes at their dojo, she mentions that they used a partner set up in which partners switched off, helping each other with their skills. She believes that America’s Best Defense will be using the same set up at this event as well. 

Antonellis also elaborates on the importance of this event, as she will be attending George Washington University in the Fall. Being in the city, girls experience a lot of violence towards them. Unfortunately the violence towards girls is not surprising and new stories about these traumatic events come out everyday. Antonellis explains that, although not limited to, women experience a lot of violence from, “big, tall men,” Although it is mostly unpreventable to encounter someone with wrong intentions, by learning basic self defense skills, girls can help protect themselves from any escalations in the situation. Antonellis includes that, “it is good to know in the back of your head just in case.” 

It is recommended that anyone who attends wears athletic clothes and reserves their spot ahead of time, since the event is expected to get a lot of participants. For more information, you can visit the FHS Girl Up instagram page (fhsgirlup_) or their twitter (fhsgirlup_).