Summit Academy – Parma’s January 30 therapeutic martial arts promotion ceremony for first- through sixth-grade students was not just a show of skill and hard work, but one of diligence, focus, courage and respect.
“Our students have overcome many challenges and really persevered this year,” says Sensei Carolyn Berkheimer. “They have been working extremely hard and demonstrated great discipline, strength and courage leading up to this ceremony.”
“The students were a little nervous, specifically our newer students, but they were all equally very excited as they have worked hard all year on these skills,” adds Acting Principal 
Alexandra Morris.
The 40-some students who participated earned belts ranging from blue (8th kyu) to orange (12th kyu) with several yellow (10 kyu) and second level yellow (9th kyu) as well. They were cheered on by an audience of supportive family members.
“Watching the parents’ reactions to their students’ demonstration is truly
heartwarming and I’m very grateful to our parents for all of their support,” says Berkheimer.
The school’s older students, many of whom participated in separate promotion ceremonies in December 2024, rounded out the fan club. “We had a lot of the older students join to cheer on the elementary students,” descibes Morris.
Shihan Chuck Rickard, who leads Summit Academy’s therapeutic martial arts program, says the students not only showed their commitment to learning and practicing therapeutic martial arts, but “mushin” as well. “Mushin is a mental state where the practitioner is completely focused on the present moment, free of distractions and anxieties,” Rickard explains.
The students also displayed “rei,” or respect, through their gestures of bowing and attentive listening as well as “jisei,” or self-discipline and self-improvement, overcoming obstacles that otherwise might get in the way of progress, explains
Rickard.
”In a lot cases, we can be our own worst enemy and only by battling our own inner-demons and flaws we can truly improve ourselves,” Rickard says.
Berkheimer adds that watching her students display the skills they developed was an amazing experience. “I am so incredibly proud of their accomplishments in martial arts and in the classroom,” she says.