Website offers self-defense tips
Billy Jahn
Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: Features
Violence. Crime. Owl Alerts. Safety.
What's the correlation?
These are four words that have been heard repeatedly around the Rowan University campus. Violence and crime are a part of every town, but with the recent troubles the school has had over the year, sometimes one has to defend himself when harm does approach.
Rowan has done what it could to enhance safety on and around campus as well as giving students the privilege of using the Safe Walk & Ride program if they do not feel safe walking across campus during the late hours of the night.
According to the Rowan University 2007 security report, there are over 10,000 students as well as over 15,000 residents in the city of Glassboro.
However, one Rowan student has a different approach when it comes to the safety of his fellow classmates.
Deren Alvarez, 23, a senior accounting major, has developed a Web site that is both beneficial to Rowan students and other college students around the country. The Web site, www.officialqualityproducts.com, offers a wide range of self-defense items one can use when harm does come their way.
Maybe you have seen the advertisements around campus or going to class? Or maybe you have heard about it through a friend.
What the site entails is a list of products that help students and everyday people to defend themselves. A few items listed on the site are pepper sprays, mace, penknives and diversion safes.
"I started [the Web site] because the violence was increasing on campus and it seemed like it wasn't going to stop," Alvarez said. "I want to provide college students with a cheap means of self defense and at the same time try to reduce violence on campus."
The Web site contains three different ways of access (officialqualityproducts.com, betterpepperspray.com, and crazysafe.com) that all lead to the same site. Alvarez registered his company in November of 2007 and has been working diligently since.
From the time of registration until March of 2008, Alvarez put in five to eight hours a day. Now that the site is off the ground and progressively getting bigger, the hours have ranged anywhere from two to five hours a day.
What's the correlation?
These are four words that have been heard repeatedly around the Rowan University campus. Violence and crime are a part of every town, but with the recent troubles the school has had over the year, sometimes one has to defend himself when harm does approach.
Rowan has done what it could to enhance safety on and around campus as well as giving students the privilege of using the Safe Walk & Ride program if they do not feel safe walking across campus during the late hours of the night.
According to the Rowan University 2007 security report, there are over 10,000 students as well as over 15,000 residents in the city of Glassboro.
However, one Rowan student has a different approach when it comes to the safety of his fellow classmates.
Deren Alvarez, 23, a senior accounting major, has developed a Web site that is both beneficial to Rowan students and other college students around the country. The Web site, www.officialqualityproducts.com, offers a wide range of self-defense items one can use when harm does come their way.
Maybe you have seen the advertisements around campus or going to class? Or maybe you have heard about it through a friend.
What the site entails is a list of products that help students and everyday people to defend themselves. A few items listed on the site are pepper sprays, mace, penknives and diversion safes.
"I started [the Web site] because the violence was increasing on campus and it seemed like it wasn't going to stop," Alvarez said. "I want to provide college students with a cheap means of self defense and at the same time try to reduce violence on campus."
The Web site contains three different ways of access (officialqualityproducts.com, betterpepperspray.com, and crazysafe.com) that all lead to the same site. Alvarez registered his company in November of 2007 and has been working diligently since.
From the time of registration until March of 2008, Alvarez put in five to eight hours a day. Now that the site is off the ground and progressively getting bigger, the hours have ranged anywhere from two to five hours a day.
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