Senior likes to cook
FACES
BY DESARAY MCGEE desaraymcgee@gmail.com
With a spinning ridgehand, sophomore Kaleigh Rhodes breaks a board held by her instructor Brain Wagner at the Clinton Tournament on Oct. 23, 2011. Rhodes will try for her third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do in June. (contributed photo)
Student learns martial way
W
hen sophomore Kaleigh Rhodes sees a fight at school, she has the urge to break it up. She probably could because she has a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. However, she waits for security to handle the fight. “I don’t think it’s right,” she explained. “I hate fighting, but I love martial arts. It keeps me in shape. It helps you feel more confident about yourself.” Rhodes has Sponge Bob to thank for sparking her interest in the martial arts. When she was 8 she saw an episode where they were on Karate Island. “I thought that was really cool and I asked my Mom if I could study it.” Her mom took her to Evolution Martial Arts in Bettendorf. By the time she was in eighth grade, she earned her second-degree black belt. That required knowing a sequence of forms, breaking boards with a variety of punches and kicks, and knowing the philosophy of her martial art. She also competes in various tournaments around the state. Her favorite event is forms competition, where she often wins her age category and scores high in grand
champion category. She also competes in board breaking and in sparing. Her instructors, Brian Wagner and Cory Jess, have been very supportive, she said. “I call Master Wagner my Dad. He’s always helped me with kicks and everything. He’s always there to cheer me up when things go wrong.” Things did go wrong last October while she was practicing a spinning kick in the studio. As she landed, she fell back on her ankle and injured it. After three days of pain, she wondered if it were more than a sprain, and it turned about to be broken. While on the sidelines, she helped coach the other students. She got the cast off two weeks ago. “I’m slowly starting to get back into it,” she said. She believes the tenets of Tae Kwon Do, such as perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit, have helped her outside of the kartae studio. “I’m more caring, and I have more respect for people than I used to.” She hopes to get back to vigorous training soon in order to try out for her third degree black belt in June.
PAGE BY DESARAY MCGEE
Michael Ramsey is a senior at West High School who loves to cook. He likes to cook many different types of food but his main ones are Mexican food, and desserts. He cooks many different kinds of sweets. Ramsey is a very experienced cook. Since he has been going to West High school he has taken a couple of different cooking classes. He has taken Foods, Advanced Foods, International Foods and Hospitality Management. He also watched many family members and friends in the kitchen to get where he is at now. Ramsey was first inspired to cook when he was with his grandmother, who used to cook different kinds of foods. Ramsey also learned a big portion of his cooking skills from his grandmother. For Ramsey the hardest thing about cooking is “controlling the heat.” Ramsey added, “No matter what it is, the first time cooking something I always end up burning it because I don’t know the right temperature.” Ramsey has some accomplishments involving cooking, but one unique one would have to be when he was a little younger he attended a pie-eating contest. He won first place. The type of pie that he won with was blueberry. Although Ramsey could be many things when he gets older, he wants to be a chef. In fact one of Ramsey’s dreams for when he gets a little older is to own his own restaurant.
Michael Ramsey, hopes to own his own restaurant some day.
APRIL 12, 2013 ● BEAK ‘N’ EYE 9