Hey, my name is Jack, I’m 17, and I’ve been doing Taekwondo for the past nine years. In addition to a newfound confidence, my biggest takeaway from my years as a student has come in the form of building relationships. Irrespective of age, background, and identity, I have learned to connect and interact with all people, and this skill has greatly benefited my everyday experiences. Two things I’ve done outside of Taekwondo in the past months have been captaining the Dover-Sherborn cross country team, and teaching myself to become ambidextrous.
My name is Albert. I am a 16-year-old junior in high school and have been doing taekwondo for the past five years. For me, the best part of learning taekwondo was how I have learnt discipline and self defense. I am pretty weak for my age, so learning self defense has let me become more confident. Practicing discipline has given me a better work ethic and has helped me persevere through the pandemic. Being a teen leader has also helped me better communicate with others and become better at my own forms and combinations while teaching other children. It feels really good when I see that a kid that I have taught finally has gotten their black belt. In my free time, I like to play video games with my friends. I also like baking, though I mess it up a lot. Going forwards, I hope to get my 2nd dan black belt and spend more time learning how to spar well.
My name is Aaruni and I am 15 years old. I have been doing TaeKwonDo for 7 years now and earned my black belt 3 years ago. What I personally love about TaeKwonDo is the opportunity it gives me to interact with people of all ages, as well as the component of self improvement. I enjoy playing tennis, volleyball, badminton, and swimming. I am also interested in playing piano and other forms of art. My favorite subjects in school are computer science and chemistry.
Hello my name is Garv and I am 14 years old. I am a second degree black belt and I have been doing Taekwondo for about 8 years now. Because of Taekwondo, I have become more confident in Taekwondo as well as outside in my daily life. Aside from Taekwondo I love doing origami, playing sports, and playing video games. I hope to keep improving in all my forms and techniques as well as helping others in theirs.
My name is Vedant and I am 14 years old. I have been doing Taekwondo for about 6 years and I am a second degree black belt now. Taekwondo has benefited me in many ways. For example, doing Taekwondo made me less shy, a lot more confident, and more responsible. My favorite part about doing Taekwondo is doing forms with other people because even though it involves a lot of precision and good timing, it looks very good. In my free time I like learning about cars, playing with my brother and my dog, and playing sports. I’m looking forward to learning more techniques and teaching other students techniques as well.
My name is Hitanya and I am 13 years old. I’ve been doing Taekwondo for about 8 years now and I am a 2nd Dan black belt. Taekwondo has taught me to be more confident in defending myself and it also helped me gain a lot of self control. I enjoy teaching younger color belts because it helps the students learn new techniques and it gives me a chance to improve my techniques as well. Apart from Taekwondo, I like to play games, listen to music, play guitar, and play chess with my dad or people online.
My name is Arjun. I am a 1st Dan Black Belt and got it in December 2020. In my free time, I like playing video games, coding and playing sports. I enjoy teaching the students their forms and techniques so that they can also become a Black Belt. My next goal is to achieve a 2nd dan black belt. I am very thankful for my Instructors and Miss Shim.
My name is Simone and I have been doing Taekwondo for several years. I am currently a 2nd Dan Black Belt and I enjoy learning new techniques as well as helping out other students. Taekwondo has introduced a way for me to defend myself which I take a lot of pride in. All of these factor in towards my enjoyment of Taekwondo overall. In my freetime, I like to draw and read. I also enjoy solving puzzles and drinking tea.
My name is Daniel. I’m a sophomore and have been doing Taekwondo for 7 years. I enjoy practicing my forms and learning new ones. I got my second dan black belt during the summer of quarantine and I have been a teen leader for over a year. Taekwondo has helped me a lot, growing my confidence, and discipline. Outside of taekwondo, I enjoy swimming, hanging out with friends, reading and watching football.
My name is Dima. I I like to do crossfit. During my crossfit time I like to work out and feel good about myself. What I like about Taekwondo is the forms. It is always fun and is always a way to push myself to do better. Sparring is also fun with people my rank and size. I have gotten a lot stronger since Taekwondo and Sparring. I can say both have helped me along the way.
Hi, I am Sameera. I started taekwondo when I was 7 and now I am 13. I am a first degree black belt. These past 6 years have taught me how to improve on skills quickly and how to do them efficiently. When I started taekwondo I did not know I would be able to obtain a black belt. I am thankful for taekwondo for teaching me various techniques that I can sometimes apply to real life. In my free time, I enjoy tennis, dance, art, piano, and astronomy. I look forward to helping color belts, improving in each class, and learning new things.
My name is Kaulini. I am 14 years old. I am a first degree black belt and I have been doing taekwondo for the past 6 years. Taekwondo has helped me learn how to use more power and how to execute techniques with power, precision and speed. Taekwondo has taught me how to be responsible and has shown me that I have potential to achieve goals I never thought were possible. Besides doing taekwondo I dance, sing, track and field in the spring and I do cross country in the fall. I am looking forward to teaching students the things I have learned to get better and I’m looking forward to learning more techniques.
My name is Likith and at the time of writing this, I am 15 years old. I have been doing Taekwondo for around 4 years. I received my First Dan black belt during January 2021 and have since continued. Taekwondo has taught me a lot, other than self defense it has taught me more about myself and has given me strength not only physically, but mentally. I am currently a freshman at Ashland High School and some of my pastimes are playing sports and volunteering. I play two sports, soccer and basketball. My main sport would be soccer, since I play for a club and for my high school. My main goal in Taekwondo right now is to pass my Second Dan test and maybe even move onto my Third Dan.
Hi, I’m Maeve, a fellow black belt at the Jae Hun Kim Taekwon-Do Institute. I have been doing Taekwon-Do for about 4 years since I joined when I was 9. Throughout the years; I have learned discipline and determination, which has helped me in my other activities volleyball and dancing. Taekwon-Do has taught me so many things, especially to never give up!
Hi my name is Sergent, I’m 14 years old and I’ve been doing Taekwondo for almost seven years. I got my first degree black belt in May of 2020 when I was still living in Brookline and doing Taekwondo from my living room. I really wanted to do Taekwondo in first grade because I had seen other kids doing it at my school and wanted to try it out. The thing I love most about doing Taekwondo is that it gets me away from the house so I don’t sit around all day. I also like to learn new forms and get into the rhythm of the forms. The community at Taekwondo is also super accepting and diverse, which I really appreciate.
Hi, my name is Saif and I am 16 years old. I am a junior at Ashland High School. I recently earned my first degree black belt, and I’ve been doing Taekwondo for around three years. Taekwondo has helped me become more confident in myself and my decisions. I’ve gained confidence in my self-defense and safety since starting Taekwondo. I run track and volunteer at the local farmers market in addition to Taekwondo. I intend to continue honing all of my techniques and sparring skills while also assisting others with theirs.
Jae H. Kim Taekwon-do Institute 