Miss Montana visits Sunnyside with self-defense lessons for students

Jessica Criss, Miss Montana 2020, stopped in Havre to teach students at Sunnyside Intermediate School some self-defense techniques as part of her Sense of Defense program Monday.

Criss' program, which she has been running for a year-and-a-half, is intended to teach students across the state ways to defend themselves while instilling a mindset that will allow them to avoid danger when possible and keep themselves safe when they can't.

Throughout the day, she taught groups of students stances and blocking technique that would allow them to deflect potential attacks, as well as how to recognize dangerous situations and how to respond to keep themselves and those around them safe.

She said an important component of self-defense is instilling the understanding that seeking out danger is not in the interest of anyone, and that avoidance is almost always preferable, while also empowering people with the knowledge that peace is not passivity.

"I used to think the word 'peace' meant that you were a doormat but that's not true," she said in an interview after the class ended.

Criss has been learning martial arts since she was 4, in part from her parents who are both highly-proficient in self-defense and martial arts themselves.

"I was kind of raised in the dojo," she said. "So I've been doing martial arts for as long as I can remember."

But, she said, the importance of self-defense became more clear to her when she attended college and she found that most people didn't feel safe walking in certain places for fear of being assaulted. She now tries to teach people these techniques to people at young ages so it becomes muscle memory.

She said she teaches basic techniques to people as young at 3 at her home dojo, but will take the chance to teach any students from kindergarten to 12th grade, adjusting the presentation accordingly.

Criss said she had a great time teaching the students of Sunnyside and will be heading to Bozeman next, continuing the program until she competes for Miss America this coming December.

Sunnyside Principal Pax Haslem said he thinks everything went really well and is excited that the school had the opportunity to introduce students to a good female role model, especially one who breaks stereotypes.

"A lot of our girls were super excited and impressed, but by the end the boys were impressed too," he said.

He said normally Criss would do an assembly to teach the entire student body at once, but she requested to see smaller groups of students so they could socially distance.

He said this made for a long day of work for her, effectively teaching 10 classes instead of one, and he appreciates the time and effort she put in, as well as her commitment to the students' safety.

Haslem said the arrival of Sunnyside's new physical education teacher, Peyton Bartel, has given the school an opportunity to introduce new things like Criss' program to their physical education curriculum, and they're excited to have her.

He said the school will soon be integrating golf into the curriculum and will be setting up many new programs in addition to the ones that have returned this year.