By Suriel Chavez |Staff Writer|
The natural essence for working out and striving to be healthy is to live a longer, better life.
Unfortunately, there are those who feel the need to harm others.
This is why taking a self defense class can be beneficial to one’s health.
San Bernardino has one of the highest violence rates in the nation, according to Neighborhood Scout, a neighborhood analytics website.
This comes to no surprise to most who live in the city and have heard the news about horrors that happen everyday.
The real surprise is that CSUSB offers self defense classes and has other tools and services available to help prevent violent crimes against it students.
Classes such as karate, mixed martial arts, kick boxing and wrestling have been seen as classes that teach how to protect yourself.
Group Ex offers a mixed martial arts class, free to all students.
Mixed martial arts is a class designed to train in techniques such as: Judo, Jujitsu, Boxing, Krav Maga and Muay Thai.
The class is an hour long and while it prepares you to defend yourself, while also working out your body and improving strength and endurance.
“I took a karate class in order to feel safe and be able to protect myself if the situation called for it,” said student Catherine Giantonio.
“It did help me, but there are also other things that you can learn from a self defense class,” added Giantonio.
Fitness is about bettering yourself and these classes do that as they help you be prepared for a possible assault.
Giantonio is right, most self defense classes are structured on the idea of getting away and contacting the authorities for help.
The Women’s Resource Center has even provided self defense courses in the past.
Hopefully, they will continue to help empower all students.
Some classes also help educate people on how to properly use self defense tools, such as pepper spray.
Pepper spray has become a very common accessory on everyone’s key chain.
“It can definitely come in handy if something were to happen,” said student Ariana Prieto.
Safety is a concern on any campus and it is shown by CSUSB.
Many students have had to take late night classes, which means they leave school at a late hour.
CSUSB has an escort service available 24/7 that will provide you with transportation to your car by foot, department cart or state vehicle.
“Having the police escort service at school is keeping us safe,” said Prieto.
There is also a crime prevention training that can be provided by request.
CSUSB is a campus were learning happens and students strive to prepare themselves for a better future.
With the recent shooting event at UCLA, it is clear that anything can happen at any given campus at any given time.
It is important to be prepared and alert. Taking a self defense class can be the difference between a short life and a long one.
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