Miguel Wins Big in Taekwondo

I wanted to learn a disciplined martial art, and my mother enrolled me in a U.S. Taekwondo class to try.

I ended up liking it, and I have to be extra disciplined with my time management for my academic classes so I can keep up with the Taekwondo training schedule.

It requires a lot of memorization and familiarity for every belt test, and it is challenging because the counting, terminology, and commands are in Korean, which is foreign to me.

What did you do?

First, I competed against other cadets from different training centers in Oklahoma and from other states for the 40th Annual Oklahoma Invitational Taekwondo Hanmookwan Cup Championship in the Del City High School gymnasium. I won two first-place trophies in Poomsae and Board Breaking.

Second, I competed in the USA Taekwondo State Championship and won two gold medals, qualifying me for the USA National Taekwondo competition in Poomsae and Board Breaking.

What organization recognized the achievement?

USA Taekwondo Association recognized the achievement.

How did homeschooling help you achieve your goal?

Homeschooling helped me achieve my goals by keeping me on top of my academics through a good curriculum and allowing me to choose extracurricular activities I wanted to develop to be at my best.

What are your interests?

My interests are deep-sea fishing, taking care of my chickens and Komorner Tumbler pigeons (they are show birds), and joining the St. Teresa of Avila choir in the near future.

What are you inspired to do with your life?

I dream of being a flight engineer in the U.S. Air Force after earning my college degree.

What are your favorite subjects and why?

My favorite subjects are Mathematics because it always challenges me to do computations in my mind and give an accurate answer.

I like Science because of all the cool experiments, and I like learning things about the human body and outer space.

The photo was taken in my classroom.