(Aurora, CO) – Several elementary school students from local schools earned black belts from the Korean Academy of Taekwondo’s Fall 2014 Black Belt Class. KAT has been running programs in elementary schools for several years, and this year brought milestone achievements.
The test started with a 2 mile run
In the oldest program, Global Village Academy, two students made history by becoming the first ever second degree black belts to start at GVA. Taylor Altman and Anthony Hicks are both national medalists in forms competition. Although Anthony no longer attends GVA, he started there in the Encore program. Three more GVA students earned their first degree black belts, Joseph Von Hulongbayan, Braulio De La Oliva and Franco De La Oliva all had a great test and have been making tremendous strides in their training.
David receiving his belt
This test also marked the first time students from Aurora Quest K8 earned their black belts. David Berg showed mental and physical toughness to complete his test and Andrew Myers was elected as one of the two test class captains. Andrew is now in high school but started training at Quest.
A happy family.
This test also marked the first time students who began training at High Point Academy earned their black belts, with Sam and JT Axelrod making the grade. Tatiana Coleman had previously earned her belt, but she has started training before the High Point Academy program began. Instructor Kyle Landon stated: “I’m very proud of Sam and JT for being my first black belts. I can’t wait to see how they will use their skills in the future. Perhaps they will raise black belts of their own. Whatever they choose I’ll support them fully.” All in all 17 students either earned black belts or earned higher degrees of black belts.
Sam and JT after the grueling test