Meet Sophia Powers. She has a black belt in compassion.

As a truly accomplished martial artist, Sophia Powers is committed to more than high kicks, forceful karate chops and flawless forms; she is committed to living The Principles of Black Belt: modesty, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, courage and indomitable spirit. Generosity and compassion are also clearly guiding principles for this young woman, who, at only twenty years of age, is already making a tremendous impact on her community, one student at a time.

Just over a year ago, Powers was making periodic donations to the Mustard Seed School, Sacramento’s emergency school for homeless children. She was also teaching martial arts classes with Kovar’s Karate (now also known as the “Satori Martial Arts Academy”). Powers told me, “I was hearing and reading all these statistics about homeless kids…and how eight out of ten are physically assaulted before they reach their teens.” The more she spoke with Sue Supple, co-director of the Mustard Seed School, the more convinced she became of the kids’ need for self-defense lessons. When Sophia entered the ProMAC (Professional Martial Arts College) program, a training program for martial arts professionals, she found an opportunity to turn a project assignment into something that would help those kids. “If they can’t go to Martial Arts,” Sophia thought, “why can’t we bring it to them? So, I sent a proposal to Kyoshi Dave Kovars.” (Kyoshi is a traditional martial arts title denoting respect for advanced teachers).

Dave Kovars is Founder and Chief Training Officer of the Kovars/Satori Academy of Martial Arts. With his support (he is now also the advisor for the program), Sophia began working with the school to create a self-defense curriculum and provide it at no cost to students’ families or the school. Other instructors came forward to volunteer their time, energy and expertise, and the self-defense class was fully integrated into the school’s physical education curriculum. Last month The Mustard Seed School and the Satori Academy celebrated their first year working in partnership at a modest belt ceremony/ pizza party for the students. As part of that celebration, Powers was pleased to announce that the Satori Academy will offer scholarships to help kids continue studying martial arts even after they’ve left the Mustard Seed School. I sat down with Ms. Powers after the kids were loaded back in the van to go back to school, the leftover pizza packed and sent with them, and we talked about three things close to her heart: martial arts, teaching, and her students.

Sophia’s challenge has been to give the kids the same Satori Self-Defense curriculum, with the same high standards that any other student would experience, without ignoring their special circumstances. “It’s hard for people to really fathom what these kids go through,” she says. The children spend their nights on the streets, in shelters, in cars or under bridges. Many times they don’t know where or how they’ll get their next meal. Many students have to act as their own parents. At times, they also must parent the adults in their lives. Transportation to school is often uncertain, making attendance difficult and unpredictable. Ms. Powers has witnessed her students struggling with all these forms of adversity, and she has been impressed by the self-discipline they’ve displayed and by their commitment to their education. They might plead with family members, arrange and schedule rides, make calls to staff at the school, or walk for miles to reach the school, to make it for tip testing (the practical examination by which students progress in their martial arts training and ascend the ranks from white belt to gold belt…all the way up through the various degrees of black belt).

The first forty-five minutes of each hour-long class are devoted to the physical practice of martial arts. During the last fifteen minutes, teachers help the children build their writing and composition skills (something most need extra practice with, having missed so much school). They write in a workbook provided as part of the Satori program, on topics related to martial artist principles and, more importantly, to their own lives. Powers sees martial arts as a practice that can support these children especially, as they face the dilemmas and obstacles that come with living in poverty and being homeless, not the least of which is fear.

The kids’ self-defense lessons provide much more than mere exercise; they offer skills which can protect them from both bodily harm and the psychological suffering they face on the street. “These kids really need this,” she tells me. One of her student’s stories illustrates her point: One night this little boy had to walk down a dark alley with his family. He told her how “scary looking” men lurked down the alley, and yet, he told his teacher proudly, he was not afraid. He thought about the self-defense moves he had learned. He took some deep breaths and used the techniques he’d learned to keep himself calm yet alert. And he wasn’t afraid. As she tells me this story, I can practically hear the tones of joy and relief in that little boy’s voice. Moments like that are humbling, she tells me, and they help to reinforce her commitment to giving these kids tools they can use to stay safer and feel better.

Integral to Powers’ teaching philosophy is what she calls, “the power of positive self-talk.” I recall her standing in front of the class and having them declare, “I am awesome!” with an enthusiasm she seems just barely able to focus and control. (It’s an enthusiasm that mostly takes form in the word “awesome”—the kids are “awesome”; the drills are “awesome”; their kicks are “awesome”—and the kids seem to love it.) She is free with all kinds of compliments, telling the students, “You are so important!” Other teachers too offer constant encouragement as they work with the kids. In addition to the praise and encouragement they receive from their teachers, students also experience a sense of accomplishment through the martial arts discipline itself. Whether it’s breaking a board in one powerful karate blow, reflecting on ways they have demonstrated perseverance in their notebooks, or earning a gold belt after steady, persistent practice and successfully passing their “tip-tests,” instructors hope these kids will carry feelings of empowerment and self-esteem off the dojo mat and out into the world. As Powers puts it: “There isn’t a greater gift you can give your students than to show them all that they can be.” Clearly, she is one awesome teacher! SP