By Nicole Heubusch
There is a new program available to the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida. The ESCAPE Series is geared towards young girls to help promote awareness of potential violent situations. They will learn skills on how to deal with bullying and harassment, as well as gain knowledge on assault.
The age group for this series is for girls in 5th grade through 12th grade. “As I believe, this is the age when they begin to have peer pressure and more life experiences on their own without much adult supervision” says the Series Coordination for ESCAPE Series, Melinda Exum-Bihler. She wants the girl’s abilities to trust their inner voice and act on instincts to increase.
“This is a great program that my mom is putting on. She has always believed that girls should be able to take care of themselves and now they are able to become more self-reliant. With the guest speakers she has lined up, it also can give girls some insight on career paths,” said Miranda Bihler, who goes to Mulrennan Middle School.
There are five sessions left in this series and the sessions will have different guest speakers. They will be taught personal safety skills such as First Aid/CPR, and Physical Defense Techniques which will help enhance verbal and physical skills to ESCAPE in an emergency. The girls will also be educated on the Florida Law and Statues that protect people from crimes of this nature and the proper way to report a crime. This program takes place at Camp Dorothy Thomas in Riverview. For more information, please call Melinda Exum-Bihler or Jodee Nicosia at 843-3245. The remaining sessions for the program are: Sunday, March 23, FL Law/Statutes and Defense Techniques; Sunday, April 27 FL Law/Statutes and Defense Techniques; Sunday, May 4, Defense Techniques; Sunday, June 1, Defense Techniques.
