@TorontoPolice Northview Heights Girls Boxing Club

Constable Cindi Pepper is urging a teenage girl to let go of her inhibitions and level a punch at her teacher. “Whatever you’re angry with, or upset about, put it in that big ‘R’,” Pepper instructs a girl swinging hooks into the focus pads of the outstretched arms of teacher Katy Whitfield. It’s another Monday afternoon for the Northview Heights Secondary School Girls Boxing Club, an informal collective where Pepper teams up with teachers to lead girls in boxing techniques in the school’s dance studio. “We get together and box. It sometimes feels good to hit something,” says the School Resource Officer (SRO). “And, if there is something on their minds, we talk about it.” Pepper was introduced to boxing a few years ago by her husband, Parker, who was a competitive boxer, as a fun way to stay in shape together. “I found it to be a great workout but also a great stress reliever,” says Pepper, who immediately thought to share the sport with the students she sees every day as an SRO for Northview