Program empowers students to find answers, action in their lives

There were no crane poses, shouts of “hi-ya” or kicks through the air in slow motion.

Instead, these karate kids inside Waimea Middle Public Conversion Charter School teacher Liz Noetzel’s classroom were doing something else with courage. They have been creating their own personal journeys, discovering themselves, attempting the impossible, facing fears and asking for help.

They’re doing Mental Karate, a seven-part character building program that helps students learn how to establish, meet and achieve personal goals. Participants go through a series of self-improvement steps to earn different belts, each representing a character trait essential for success in life. The traits are initiative, contribution, discipline, courage and awareness, Noetzel said.

Achieving a belt requires more than just journaling, exploration, discussion and reflection. It requires action, including setting a specific thing they can do to embody the trait and overcome an obstacle. If students achieve their goal, they’re given an award and a belt, actually bracelets, Noetzel said.

Mental Karate was created by Mawi Asgedom, an educator who has written six books, spoken to more than 1 million students and trained educators at the Harvard School of Education. As a child, Asgedom fled civil war in Ethiopia, survived a Sudanese refugee camp for three years and resettled in the United States, where he overcame poverty, language barriers and personal tragedy to graduate with honors from Harvard University, according to the Mental Karate website.

Waimea Middle students raised about $1,200 through bake sales to bring Asgedom to their school April 13. He shared his message about setting and achieving goals, as well as played basketball with the students and donated the program to the school for next year. His visit was an honor, Noetzel said.

Speaking from Chicago Thursday, Asgedom said Mental Karate only works because of passionate educators like Noetzel who really believe leadership matters and spend the time teaching more than content. He founded the program more than 10 years ago because he wanted to give students an outlet to tell their own story, create their journey and make actions that improve their lives. Too often, schools bring in guest speakers, require reading or use other passive methods to help motivate students, but these methods, though easier, aren’t always effective, he said.

“Mental Karate is all about character action,” Asgedom said. “It’s letting student acquire skills by doing rather than hearing about the mambo jumbo. It’s giving students the freedom to define their own goals and opportunity to feel what accomplishment feels like when initiating their power to act in a meaningful way.”

What seventh-grader Holi Bergin, 12, likes most about Mental Karate is it’s up to him to decide what to improve in his life and how he is going to accomplish it. To get his yellow belt for contribution, he chose to help his father in the yard on the weekends instead of playing video games with his brother. The experience made Bergin realize how much he values his father’s contributions and said it has created a deeper bond.

“Mental Karate helps kids discover their inner self, what’s most important to them and who they want to be,” he said. “I think (Asgedom) is right when he says if you want to improve your life, you have to push the turbo button and do something about it, not make excuses, complain or get mad about something. It’s up to me to create the life I want, and to make things happen, I have to put in effort.”

Noetzel was instrumental in bring Mental Karate, which costs approximately $1,000 annually, to Waimea Middle. Over the past couple of years, she has used Asgedom’s memoir, “Of Beetles and Angels,” in her seventh-grade language arts classes. She is very familiar with his story, believing it’s an inspiring model for her students to go after their dreams. When Noetzel discovered Mental Karate, she knew it was the perfect tie in.

“As a teacher, I’m always trying to find real positive ways to get kids to realize their potential, empower them to be better people and change the lives of others, as well as accomplish great things, big and small,” she said.

This is the second year Mental Karate has been offered at the school. More than 100 seventh- and eighth-graders are participating. Besides Noetzel, language arts teacher Leesa Robertson is also teaching it.

“Mental Karate has become a way of thinking, not just a class assignment. Students have grown so much,” she said. “They have awakened a strong sense of self, developed a consciousness, opened up about their life and dreams, and are affecting change in themselves and outside the classroom. They have become advocates for other people, animals, the environment and their community.”

Seventh-grader Tania duPont, 12, has set some hefty goals for herself, including getting into Harvard University, becoming a doctor or lawyer, and trying to eliminate her constant expectation to be perfect at everything all the time. But the action she’s most proud of making to date is being nicer to her 10-year-old brother and having a better relationship — one no longer filled with bickering and poking.

“Mental Karate helps us think deeper about ourselves and lives,” she said. “I have learned little steps can lead to great, big things and we have power to not let things get in our way. Anyone can make changes.”