Heartbeat Boxing, a Fresno boxing studio, will offer a scholarship to an athletic female enrolled at Fresno City College, most likely by the end of the semester.

The scholarship should cover for academic expenses such as tuition and books, but could also cover living expenses.

The project manager for Heartbeat Boxing, Angielee Soto, said that the recipient of the scholarship would meet many requirements, but that factors such as extracurricular involvement and grade point average would be considered.

Lourdes Ruiz, the owner of Heartbeat Boxing, said that although the current focus is on females, eventually, men and children will be considered as well.

Heartbeat Boxing is a gym located on Van Ness Ave. near downtown Fresno which offers free self defense classes for women. The classes teach women how to defend themselves in instances of domestic violence. The classes focus less on fighting back and more on learning how to get out of a dangerous situation.

Ruiz said the reason for the self defense classes are personal.

Her sister-in-law Ruby Ruiz had suffered tremendous abuse from her husband and died at the age of 21. Ruby Ruiz had served in the Marines, and her husband also served in the armed forces

“We don’t need another Ruby. We already lost Ruby,” Ruiz said.

“We don’t know what everybody else is going through,” said Ruiz. “But we want to let them know that our doors are open.”

Vianey Cobian, one of the faces of Heartbeat Boxing, said that she would like to hold seminars on preventing domestic abuse at Fresno City College to empower women. Cobian hopes that these seminars start in March. Eventually, she would like to hold them at the studio itself.

Free self defense classes for all women are offered at 6:30 p.m. in the studio on Wednesday evenings. There is no limit to how many of these classes one can attend. Fresno City College students are encouraged to come and welcomed.

Cobian encourages interested students to visit Heartbeat Boxing’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, both titled “Heartbeat Boxing” and their Twitter page, @heartbeatboxing and their Instagram account is @fresnoheartbeatboxing.