This program was such a success last year we decided to do it again. It was a perfect fit for our “On Your Mark, Get Set, Read” theme and our goal to keep our local teens active.

Local police officer, Mike Martin, owner of Best Defense Training, led the teens through a series of moves and maneuvers to help them stay safe in dangerous situations. You could visibly see the teens growing more confident and secure as the program progressed. Both the teens and their parents were really grateful that the library offered this program.

Things I loved:

• Mike’s humor and his ability to present serious/potentially scary information in a non-threatening way
• How much fun the tweens and teens had. On my surveys afterwards, the reviews were glowing.
• The participants actually got to practice the moves (instead of just having them demonstrated)
• We had a healthy mix of both boys and girls
• The teens checked things out from my book display! They were so pumped about what they’d learned, all but one of my books and DVD’s on self-defense and/or survival skills was immediately checked out.
• We had a waiting list 15 teens deep, along with numerous requests to do this program again so more teens can attend.

Things I’d do differently next time:

• In the future, I’ll probably limit this program to 8th grade and up. The younger middle schoolers really had fun during the program, but were so goofy/chatty they made it hard for the older kids to enjoy it.

Total Attendance: 18 teens.

Verdict: FTW. We’ll try to bring this one back in the fall.