Additional Education Experiences
Taekwondo Instructing
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During my time at South Piedmont Community College, I continued my instructing position at Gold Medal Taekwondo Academy. As mentioned preveiously in my ePortfolio, I had been a part of this Taekwondo school ever since the 5th grade. I learned to grow my skills in my confidence, respect, integrity, courage and so many others over the course of my time as both a student and teacher of Taekwondo. Once I got to the point where I had developed my own personal life skills enough, I was able to then pass on what I had learned to the students that I taught of all ages. Starting off, this was no easy accomplishment, and I had to gradually adapt and change my teaching style to a way that would benefit the students the most while also fitting my style of teaching. This taught me how to do my best work in a real-life job and situation while also taking into account the people I was working with and helping out. This job was more than about just money, with all of the time that I had invested in learning Taekwondo and creating strong relationships; I wanted to be able to enjoy that for as long as I could while also creating new amazing memories with students and fellow instructors alike. Keeping this job and hobby for around 6 years taught me the meaning of loyalty and also showed me what amazing things can be built and created from the strong relationships that could be formed because of this length of time I spent in one place. While I saw a lot of people come and go during my time at GMTA, I always will cherish the memories I created here and I will never forget the amazing impact and blessing it was on my life.
Operation Christmas Child
Every year after Thanksgiving, my family and I strive to volunteer at least once at an Operation Christmas Child processing center. Luckily, there is one very close to where we live so we often go there to aid in processing boxes for children who cannot get easy access to gifts overseas. This is one of my favorite volunteer opportunities because of the kind of work we are doing when we partake in toy sorting and boxing. The organization is Christian-based which makes our work there even more meaningful to my family. Being able to give to young kids across the world who aren't as fortunate as us really fills me with joy and I am always glad that I am able to be a part of it. From these experiences, I have learned skills such as team collaboration as well as making sure to carefully work efficiently so that every single box goes where it needs to. I plan on continuing this volunteer experience throughout my lifetime, and I hope that I can find other opportunities that are as exciting and fulfilling to me as this one.
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