TROTWOOD, Ohio — School may be out, but one college student is not leaving class, he’s teaching one. He’s teaching self-defense to seniors who he calls his "ninja nanas."

What You Need To Know

  • College sophomore and black belt Jeffery Wall runs a nonprofit out of Dayton called Golden Age Karate

  • About every month he goes to nursing homes and shows seniors self-defense. He calls them his 'ninja nanas'

  • He started teaching the class in honor of his own grandmother who passed away 

Jeffery Wall knows how to do karate. 

“I got my black belt when I was 13 and then I had that idea, like, maybe I should go and help others,” said Wall. 

He said he started as a kid, but what he didn’t know was by the time he was a college student, he’d be teaching karate to grandmas. 

“My grandmother, who lived alone like she was lonely and isolated when I wasn’t around, but every time I would come up to see her, she would get so excited and just seemed so happy so I was like maybe other seniors feel the same way and I want to just share that love, and ever since she passed away, I continue to do it,” said Wall. 

It’s the reason he started a nonprofit, Golden Age Karate, where he goes to nursing homes in the Dayton area showing seniors self-defense. He calls them his “ninja nanas.”

“It works muscles to where you didn’t know you had," said 81-year-old Ninja Nana Sandra Campbell. "Even with that sciatic nerve I'm pretty agile for my age"

Campbell has been taking the class for the last five years.

“I love what he teaches. It’s not just the movements of the body and the self-defense goes so beyond that,” said Campbell. “He taught me that the strongest muscle I have in my body is my brain.”

The great-grandmother said it’s been helping her to stay mobile, exercise, but most importantly, how to get away from an attacker.

“He teaches you how you can get out in public and even at night and feel safe. The things, the measures you can take, such as if you’re in a movie, try to park or there will be a light when you come out,” said Campbell. 

She said she has no plans to give up the fight.

“When he teaches us, he tells us we can do anything that we strive to do to have confidence in ourselves and our self-worth, and you taught us that,” said Campbell. 

Wall said he plans to keep volunteering, as long as there’s someone who wants to be a ninja nana.

“It brings a tear to your eyes. It is just so sweet and still so special, like you can tell it was coming from the heart and it was coming from a genuine place. I just love it,” said Wall. 

For more information on Golden Age Karate click here.