Cheryl Cesta

Keynote speaker was Cheryl Cesta, a public safety teacher at Hocking College and owner of Cheryl's Trainings, a self-defense and sexual assault prevention business.Cesta has worked with sexual assault and violence victims for 28 years.

"Most women and children are pretty leery of strangers, but many don't realize it's likely that sexual assault will come from someone they knowâ€"a relative, a teacher, even a pastor," she said.

"Violence is everywhere in our lives; it's in the streets, in our schools and churches, and in our homes," Cesta said."But to combat it starts within ourselves.

Cesta said juvenile sex offenders almost always have witnessed or experienced domestic violence.

"And once a person has been victimized, if he or she doesn't get help, they're open to even more victimization," she said.

Cesta encouraged those who attended Friday's vigil to become involved, especially to work with young people.

"It's very important to work with young men and boys in the schools," she said."If we're looking for a community solution to abuse and violence, that has to be part of it.

"Sometimes men have a learned behaviorâ€"how to shut down their feelings, but if that can be learned, it can also be unlearned," Cesta added.

She said men have to know about coercion and how it leads to assault.

"Most young men who commit rape don't use a knife or gun; they use some type of coercion, maybe through their conversation or through the use of alcohol," Cesta said.

She stressed that getting involved with the education of men and boys about those issues, especially getting more men involved, is a key to prevention of such behavior.

The self-defense portion of the program will be conducted by Cheryl Cestas who is a member of the National Women's Martial Arts Federation and the American Women's Self-Defense Association and an instructor of Public Safety at Hocking College.