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by Bekah McCurdy

Personal safety has been on the minds of many Ohio State University students with the start of fall classes. The recent attacks on female students in the off-campus area have raised concerns.

To address this issue, the Collegiate Farm Bureau at Ohio State worked cooperatively with Dan Elliot of Impact Safety programs to sponsor an interactive self-defense workshop. The workshop took place at the group's kick-off meeting Oct. 10.

Justin and Lara from Impact Safety provided awareness tips and taught self-defense techniques to students who attended the Farm Bureau meeting. (For personal safety reasons, Justin and Lara asked that their last names not be published.)

"Our goal is to expand your choices," Lara said. "We believe everyone has the right to walk around and live their lives safely."

They offered students the following suggestions:

• Always know your surroundings, observe the attitudes of other people and plan your escape route from any situation. If you have to walk alone, know where you are going, look aware and walk with confidence.

• Boundaries can be set both verbally and physically. Everyone has a "comfort bubble" that usually measures 1.5 to 3 feet in diameter from his or her body. Along with that comfort zone comes intuition, "The little voice that tells you something is not right. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t," Justin said.

A typical day on campus puts students in many situations where their awareness level is reduced such when they are wearing headphones, talking on a cell phone or walking alone.

Many Ohio State students come from areas where they don’t have to be concerned about being attacked. "It’s a wake-up call to come from a small town to here," said Emily McConnell, a senior majoring in agricultural communications.

Impact Safety Programs offers classes to adults, teens and kids as well as schools and businesses. "We want everyone to have more confidence and feel more empowered," Justin said.

Bekah McCurdy is a senior majoring in agricultural communications at Ohio State.