By Faith Jarrell
Student Life Editor
ShoreFIT is a student-led and run Washington College organization that aims to create a safe environment for everyone, especially women and those in the LGBTQ+ community, in athletic centers. On Wednesday, Oct. 25, ShoreFIT collaborated with the Women in Business club to host a self-defense class. WIB is an organization created for students, regardless of gender or major, to support their college and future careers.
The self-defense class, entitled “Strengthening Sisterhood” was held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Cain Athletic Center. The class was taught by alum Stephen Marvel ‘23, who is a certified instructor at Phoenix Personal Fitness & Martial Arts, Inc. in Chestertown, Md., and a third-degree black belt.
According to the website for Phoenix Personal Fitness & Martial Arts, Inc., they are an organization that aid in “Martial Arts, Fitness, Weight-Loss, Pain Free Movement or Improving Performance.”
This was the second time the self-defense class was hosted by ShoreFIT, with the organization having held the same event a year prior. The success of the previous event and the desire to help those who may need to learn self-defense led to the group planning the class yet again, according to ShoreFIT founder and president senior Nicole Chimezie.
“We thought about how we really just want to represent women on this campus so we were talking to [senior] Silvana [Tipson] who is a part of our executive board and is also president of Women in Business, and thought we should do a group thing,” McMenamin said. “Silvana was able to reach out to someone in town who does self-defense workshops and that kind of thing. He is trained in taekwondo and karate so he knew what he was doing.”
Chimezie mentioned that while the turnout for the event was less than the previous year, she hopes that ShoreFIT can host another self-defense class.
“The self-defense class went well, we learned how to defend ourselves if someone’s attacking you. I thought it was very practical because we learned so many different scenarios that you can do and we learned what pressure points to hit,” Chimezie said. “In terms of turnout for that event, we definitely had more of a turnout so I’m not sure if it had something to do with the timing of the event. We definitely want to do a part two, so hopefully we will get more people to come out.”
The “Strengthening Sisterhood” event followed a month of events for ShoreFIT, being the last of October. Previously in October, ShoreFIT held a dance class with the Latin Student Union on Oct. 4 and a total body muscular endurance work-out on Oct. 18. ShoreFIT also continues to meet most Wednesdays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., either in the Johnson Fitness Center or in the Cain Athletic Center.
Photo Caption: This is the second time ShoreFIT has held a self-defense
class open to WC students.
Photo courtesy of ShoreFIT