Alex Filippov on Receiving his 3rd Dan Black Belt:

It’s been a pretty long journey. Qute a few times I fell and mewled over my boo boos, but every one of those times our relentless leaders Ms. Shim and Ilya, as well as all the other friends and sparring partners were there to give me a nice motivational kick in the… lower back. You guys would not let me stop, encouraged me to continue and supported me in all sorts of ways. So for me this 3rd dan belt achievement is a celebration of our school spirit, where we all stand for, and watch out for each other. This is why I love our school and hope it will continue to be place of success and fun for all our students for many many years to come. And a word of wisdom of course – never give up guys or our fearless instructor Shim will smack you, and Ilya will make you do burpees 🙂

Rowan Gould on Receiving his 2nd Dan Black Belt:

I am so excited to receive my 2nd degree Black Belt. I worked very hard to prepare for the test and feel very proud of the work I have done. I would like to thank Ms. Shim, Mr. Kim and Mr. Yang for helping me learn my forms and perfecting my techniques.  I am going to continue practicing Tae Kwon Do as I get older and work towards my 3rd degree Black Belt.

We are so very proud of Rowan for achieving his 2nd Dan Black Belt. It is quite an accomplishment, and we, as his parents are extremely proud of his hard work and determination. Rowan began Tae Kwon Do as a 5 year old kindergartner, and at that time we had no idea how much he would grow to love the sport and how committed he would become to continuing his Tae Kwon Do education. We would like to thank Ms. Shim, Mr. Kim, Mr. Yang and all the other instructors along the way, who have given Rowan their time and attention over the years. The Ashland school has done a wonderful job of encouraging Rowan’s perseverance, in turn contributing to his overall success.

Ty and Kim Gould

Shrujal San on Receiving his 2nd Dan Black Belt:

Getting my 2nd degree black belt has been one of the most thrilling adventures of my life. My parents, my taekwondo instructors, and my fellow black belt, Rowan Gould has helped me very much in earning my black belt.  All of my success has only been possible because of all the other belts that I have completed in my years of taekwondo. I am very excited to know where my next big achievement will take me.

We are very proud and happy about Shrujal’s  2nd degree black belt. He loves Taekwondo and the Ashland Jae H. Kim school teachers.  All of the students and families are very nice and helpful which makes him want to do more and more. We would like to thank everyone who helped him or made an impact directly or indirectly.

Thanks.

Nikhila & Srinivas