Dublin District Learning to Teach Basic Self Defense

Sep 7, 2022

CJSF member Sonia Sharma contributes to her community with Project emPower.

September 3, 2022 | The Independent News

The Dublin Unified School District offered physical-education teachers basic self-defense workshops this summer, with the goal of eventually incorporating the instruction into the district’s curriculum.

The workshops were designed to provide physical education teachers with the necessary skills to teach basic self-defense to students to ensure that students in Dublin can defend themselves should the need ever arise. The workshops were inspired by Project emPower, an initiative started by Sonia Sharma, a Girl Scout in Danville and a member of the California Junior Scholarship Federation (CJSF), to encourage self-defense classes for girls in rural India who face physical violence, including a GoFundMe page.

Sharma, 14, has been working on Project emPower for more than a year and helped organize the workshops for the Dublin teachers. The Danville Recreation, Arts and Community Services Department has also adapted the ‘train the trainer’ model developed by Sharma for an after-school program at Diablo Vista Middle School.

Project emPOWER in India

Feb 22, 2022

Sonia is a CJSF member working to include a self defense initiative in the curriculum of a girl’s school in rural India where there is a lot of crime and discrimination. She hopes to get the word out to help support this school. Sonia made this slide presentation to inform people about the situation and how this program is helping.

The Town of Danville Recreation, Arts and Community Services Department, Girl Scout Troop 32666, of which Sonia is a member, piloted this program at Diablo Vista Middle School and organized a free educational self-defense course.

View Sonia’s slides and see how you can help or start a similar project.

View Project emPower Slides