Empowering. That word gets tossed around like trendy confetti. But it’s the word I kept thinking after leaving Sergeant Eric Enck’s SPEARE class last month. When you combine knowledge and skill empowerment bubbles up to overflowing.

Self-Protection, Environmental Awareness, and Rape Education is a 4-hour session created by Enck to address needs he sees within the community. Head of Community Relations and Training for the White House Police Department, Enck is a firm fixture in town. As one high school student put it with a smile on her face, “He’s everywhere! I don’t know how he does it!”

Perhaps no one was better suited to write the SPEARE curriculum than a sergeant so entrenched in his community.

The class originally came as a request from the Chamber of Commerce for White House’s inaugural #NoFilter girls’ event and has been a fixture every year since. The version Enck teaches at the Police Department is 4 hours long, the first 2 focusing on inner development and the final 2 focusing on the physical (yes, getting to punch and kick and yell).

 “There’s a direct correlation in what we allow our minds to ingest and what we put out,” says Enck. Addressing one aspect would be like trying to take a backroad shortcut and getting stuck in the muck. It only takes you so far.

“Statistically speaking,” says Enck, “When a person has low self-esteem, they are less likely to put up a fight and therefore more likely to become a target.”  

As Enck focuses on the internal work, he reminds each woman present about her true identity. “When you look in that mirror, imagine God behind you smiling and saying, ‘I do such good work!’”

 That truth buzzing internally, we attendees got to get up and get to work. “It’s okay to be loud,” Enck encouraged. “We want you to yell!” So, we yelled and punched and kicked and sweated and laughed. We were cheering one another on, even though many of us were strangers beforehand.  

That’s how powerful women can be when they remember who they be.

For your own chance to be empowered, EMAIL Sergeant Enck.

The next SPEARE class is Saturday, August 17^th from 8AM – Noon.