Two of our Teen Leaders have been promoted! Gaurav Bhatnagar has become an Assistant Instructor, based on his very adept Breakout Room Assistance and training intensity. Chaitya Bommu has been promoted to Junior Instructor II based on her excellent Breakout Room Assistance.
Gaurav is now teaching White Belts or Yellow Stripes during the Monday and Thursday 4:10 first half of class. In addition he teaches advanced students during the Wednesday 5:00 first half of class. He also runs breakout rooms during the 2nd half of the 4:10 class on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Chaitya has been providing us with Evaluations/Recommendations of White Belts and Yellow Stripes for testing in addition to evaluating other ranks during the 2nd half of the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 4:10 classes.
We also promoted 2 Youth Leaders to Teen Leader – Simone Hippolyte and Vedant Rajeev.
New Teen Leaders: Ryan Kaufman, Arjun Deshpande, Karthik Yeddula, Likith Soma and Sahana Radhakrishnan
New Youth Leaders: Arjun Prakash, Anika Nambiar, Prisha Nambiar and Smaran Idury
Feel free to leave them comments below!
When I found out that I was getting promoted to Assistant Instructor, I was extremely shocked. Over the years of doing Tae Kwon Do, I have only heard of a handful of people that have ever achieved this title and to be named Assistant Instructor was a huge honor for me. I know that with this title comes an even greater responsibility and dedication to making all the lower ranks and people around me better on a daily basis. I am grateful that there have been people to help and inspire me throughout my Taekwondo journey and I hope to be that figure for the next wave of Black Belts. I have always loved teaching all students of every rank and I look forward to taking an increased role in helping everyone.
Hello, my name is Chaitya Bommu and I am currently a 2nd-Dan Black Belt. I am honored to get the position of Junior Instructor II. Through the years, I was able to meet new people and help them learn new skills and techniques. Watching them grow and become better is one of the best parts of being a Junior Instructor. The years of training and being part of the leadership program has really helped me grow my leadership skills and grow into a better person. The past few years have been a rewarding experience and I know the skills I learned will help me in the future as well.
Taekwondo is something that I have been doing for several years now. I enjoy practicing this martial art because it helps my mind relax and forget about things that are hindering me in one way or another. Through Taekwondo, I found a way to defend myself and have something fun and interesting to do. Taekwondo has benefitted me by helping me sustain my flexibility, meet new people, and makes me voice my opinion more. As a Teen Leader now, a lot of pressure and responsibility was thrown onto my shoulders, but if that weight wasn’t there, I wouldn’t be able to prove that I am ready to handle more responsibility. Being a Teen Leader allows me to show that I can tackle more challenges and help many more people out, which makes me happy.
Becoming a teen leader was very exciting to me. It opened up many new possibilities for me, along with many more responsibilities. Learning how to help others and improve my confidence when talking to a group of people were important life skills that I learned as a youth leader, and I am excited to improve these skills more as a teen leader. Another reason I am thrilled to become a teen leader is because of the experiences I had as a student learning from other teen leaders. As a former colored belt, I know how it can be a little stressful working with adult black belts, and how it is easier working with someone around my age. One of my main goals as a teen leader is to make learning taekwondo a little bit more fun for students by using engaging games and having a positive attitude.
Hi, My name is Arjun Deshpande and I am a 1st Dan Black Belt. How I feel about becoming a teen leader is that it takes a lot of responsibility and knowing all the forms to teach all the different types of belts. I just love teaching the kids their forms, one-steps, hand techniques, and kicks. I also love giving great feedback when it comes to fixing their mistakes during the forms/one-steps. I love being in the teen leadership program and thank you to Miss. Shim for helping me throughout the years to become a black belt.
I am very happy that I am a teen leader because when I was working on Taekwondo training to get my next belt many youth and teen leaders would help me. They have helped so much to get to the place I am right now and I want to do the same for the other kids attending Taekwondo and help them get their next belt like the many youth and teen leaders did for me as I was climbing up the ranks.
I want to develop leadership skills and this program gives me an opportunity to achieve it.
My name is Likith Soma. There are a lot of things the I love about being a black belt and most importantly a teen leader. One of those things is helping out in breakout rooms and helping out younger belts. It is always fun learning about them and helping them with forms. Another thing about being a teen leader is working on younger forms because I have to remember them while helping out and that improves my skills and makes them sharper and better. Overall being a teen leader is worth it and I would recommend trying to get there.
Now that I have gotten my black belt and promoted to being a teen leader, I finally feel like a mentor to the lower belts. At first when we were recommended to become a teen leader it seemed like way too much work and a lot of effort. But after helping out, it’s quite fun but also a task. Though some days I rather just lay in bed on my phone, I still manage to get myself up and do my share of helping. Also I want to thank all my teachers and friends for helping me get this far. Without their motivation and help I don’t know if I would’ve ever been a black belt and become a teen leader.
When I got my black belt I felt very proud and I felt like I achieved something big. I started Taekwondo when I was 5 years old. It was my dream to get a Black Belt and to be a teen leader. There were times when I had trouble and had to push myself. I had to work on my power and stance and I got it. I made it with the help of Mrs.Shim and all the other instructors who helped me to get better. I love Taekwondo and want to stay longer and move on to the next Dan. I look forward to being a youth leader and helping the younger belts.
I have been doing Taekwondo for the last 5 years and I feel that it has taught me to be more self resilient, stronger and disciplined. As a youth leader, I am looking forward to passing on all the good values and positive things that I have learnt over the years to my peers as well as the new aspirants.
Being a youth leader means helping younger students who are working on their forms, one-steps, or even getting ready for a test! I love working with younger students, giving feedback, and showing them new moves! Another thing that I love about being a youth leader is that even when we’re the ones teaching we can always learn something new. It feels nice knowing that younger students are looking up at you. As a youth leader, you can have fun teaching everyone from white belts-red belts! It’s really fun working with the younger kids and seeing who’s in your breakout room. Being a youth leader is an amazing experience and is one everyone should have the chance to experience.
I feel proud as a youth leader because I am being able to teach other lower belts to achieve their goals. While teaching lower belts, I am more disciplined and it also increases my patience. As a youth leader I am able to help the school and assist teachers and after the class being able to give feedback on kids I have taught helps me improve my leadership skills. I am very happy to be part of this program and I look forward to continuing to learn more and help others learn from me.
Jae H. Kim Taekwon-do Institute 