High schoolers to train in Krav Maga

The senior class of Edgemont Junior-Senior High School will be taught the Israeli self-defense art of Krav Maga.

The school is the former high school of Lauren Spierer, an IU student who went missing almost three years ago.

The program is largely in thanks to Julia Haber, a senior at the high school.

Last year she won Andy Grammer’s “Miss Me” Lip Sync/Lyric Video Contest in which she had to submit a video of herself lip syncing the popular song. The contest also called for video promotion and the video with the most popular views on YouTube would win. The prize for winning was a concert by Andy Grammer in Haber’s hometown.

The concert turned into a fundraiser, with proceeds going to the Find Lauren Fund.
Charlene Spierer, Lauren’s mother, asked that the money go to Lauren’s high school instead, under the stipulation that the money go towards a program in her honor.

“I think that the biggest thing is awareness,” Charlene Spierer said. “The more young people are aware of making right choices, and being careful and trying to support their friends, the better off everyone will be.”

The self-defense classes will be taught by Steve Sohn’s Krav Maga Worldwide Training Center.

Though the students will be learning martial arts, the goal is not to make them martial artists, Sohn said.

The goal is to make the students more aware of the dangers around them, he said.

The idea behind the training is to apply hands-on learning as opposed to just verbal education.

“It’s kind of like driving a car in the snow,” he said. “If you’ve had some practice driving in the snow and skidding, when it really does happen to you, then you have an idea of what to do.”

The lessons will expand beyond the scope of violence. The students will tackle a variety of situations including going out with friends and drinkingalcohol.

“Teenagers are always experimenting,” Sohn said. “You don’t want to leave your drink alone. Somebody could put something in it.”

Though violence does occur today, it is not as prevalent as it was in previous generations.

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, violent crimes have been steadily declining since 1993.

“It could be very dangerous out there today,” he said. “It’s just that it’s hidden.”