Personal College Essay

I enter my taekwondo dojo stepping on the firm mat. The journey has been long and has taught me lessons on self-defense and agility. On top of that, I also learned highly valuable lessons on integrity, perseverance, and the effect of teaching has on learning.

I began to practice my kicking combinations with all the fancy jumps. I still can’t forget the day I saw Mr. Dent, (at least a 4th-degree black belt) my instructor, practicing basic white belt kicks in his free time. This made his higher ranking kicks look more polished afterwards. From that day, I started noticing him often, practicing old and simple kicks. Upon my inquiry, he responded, “ It’s good to practice the basics because it improves the hard stuff “. Those words stuck as I recounted while practicing my sidekick before trying to improve my sloppy flying sidekick. It gave me the integrity to not be fooled about my abilities. The experience made me go back and relearn the old math concepts and dive back into the world of grammar to win over the demons that prevented me from understanding the material.

All this made me realize the lengths I had come. The three and a half years both brutal and rewarding have brought me to achieve my black belt. All those times I got kicked in the groin during sparring to the times I lead warm ups in front of the class. The time I spent after class practicing belt forms and waking up early on the weekends. The journey created an attitude of perseverance towards my ambitious goals. This attitude gave me the courage to take the AP Physics 1 test freshman year without formal classes to adding an extra ten minutes for every hard math problem on the homework in hopes of improving my math grades. This attitude gave me the confidence to try harder things despite my immediate ability at the moment.

All these moments and lessons I remembered as I ended my journey with the close of my black belt album. I ended up getting knee osteoarthritis. So, instead, I started teaching taekwondo to little kids to take a less aggressive role. I learned how to effectively teach kids, breaking down tough motions in smaller parts and taking different approaches for different kids. I got to apply these methods in my math and science classes by teaching tough concepts to others. The action also provided a richer understanding of the topic for myself.

Taekwondo has been a great partner for me. But, it’s important to move forward when necessary. The lessons I learned from integrity, perseverance, and teaching have helped me grow. I find myself eager to learn and willing to put time and energy into my passion for mechanical engineering and use taekwondo as a stepping stone to achieving greater heights.