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Amanda Kruse does more than just teach her self-defense class participants how to jab and strike their way out of attacks. She also tells them how to prevent getting into those dangerous situations.
"I think they go away knowing a lot more about violence and predicting violence that they can deter violence before it ever gets to the point of an attack," said Kruse, 39, of Adel. "They also go away empowered and confident that they could fight back if they were ever in an attack...

Amanda Kruse mixes discussion with techniques to teach Des Moines-area adults and teens how to prevent violence and how to defend themselves when violence does occur.
"I hope they would go away knowing they can deter violent situations, they can get out of bad relationships, they can prevent getting into bad relationships," said Kruse, 39, of Adel.
I also hope they can be empowered and, if they do get in violent situations, they know they can defend themselves. I don't...

On January 28, around 7 p.m., a 22-year-old woman was raped in Grant Park. The Portland Police Bureau report revealed that the woman had been walking around Grant High School when the rapist slammed her face against the side of his truck, dragged her into some bushes and sexually assaulted her.
This incident has been a wake-up call to many young women in Portland, including students of SMA. Just hours before the incident occurred, junior Aditi Jackson, who lives near Grant...

Dallas Jessup talks about Just Yell Fire on the Lisa Oz Show

One day after school, when 13-year-old Dallas Jessup heard about an 11-year-old girl who had been abducted by a man in broad daylight and later killed, Dallas was outraged. Dallas admits she was a typical self-absorbed teenager at the time, but that day her life changed. Trained as a black belt in tae kwon do and as a student of Filipino street fighting, Dallas was convinced it didn’t have to happen to that young girl. “This is a real problem!” stated Dallas, after...

The Girl’s Center at Clemson University has brought in the young filmmaker who launched what CNN calls a Million Girl Revolution against violence and abuse, to keynote the 2013 Empowering Girls Symposium kicking off Domestic Violence Awareness Month at the Columbia Convention Center on Friday beginning at 8AM.
Dallas Jessup, who founded the nonprofit Just Yell Fire and has traveled 200,000 miles speaking out against violence against girls, has a very different take on empowering...

The eighth annual Empowering Girls Symposium kicked off Friday in Columbia. Clemson's Youth Learning Institute hosted the event at the Columbia Conference Center. The symposium is designed to address specific gender issues and the most pressing needs of girls in our state, including self-defense tactics. "Girls need to know they have the right to stand up for themselves and they have the right to be who they wanna be, and you can do anything you put your mind to, but you need a couple of...

Campus safety is on the minds of many incoming freshmen as the University of Washington and other colleges begin classes this week.
"First thing is to fight back. Look confident when you're walking around. Predators and rapists are looking for people who are shuffling, looking at their iPhones, people who don't look like they're going to put up much of a fight, unfortunately,” Jessup said.
Jessup offers these tips:
Go for your attacker’s main targets like the...

Many college freshmen are moving into their dorms ahead of the fall semester, and a new video created by a young woman hopes to help her peers avoid potential dangers.
What began as a freely distributed film in 2006 has grown into a "million girl revolution combating violence against young women." With one in four women experiencing sexual assault and a third of young women enduring dating abuse, Dallas Jessup, who founded the Just Yell Fire nonprofit at 14, released a new video to help...

Coeds don’t know they face a 1 in 4 risk of sexual assault, 1 in 3 of dating abuse or other random violence but one nonprofit, Just Yell Fire, has released 5 Tips to Stay Safe at College and has a free stay-safe film online that has been lauded by schools and law enforcement nationwide.
Dallas Jessup, the founder of Just Yell Fire, herself a recent college graduate, launched the nonprofit when she was still in high school and has grown it into a 1.8 million girl...