2006 REGION 21 FAMILY OF THE YEAR

 I want to submit my essay for Region 21’s family of the year.  The family that I have chosen to write about is my instructor, Ms. Jan Lappin and her family.

 Almost 4 years ago, my son was diagnosed with ADHD.  My husband and I decided that we would try and find some activity to help my son cope with this issue.  We had both taken karate when we were younger and thought that karate might help him with his focus and self control.  We tried several other karate schools and found Middleburg Martial Arts.

  That was the first time that we met Ms. Jan Lappin.  She was exactly what we were looking for in a martial arts teacher.  Ms. Lappin, who has been training for over 20 years, took the time to meet with us and discuss what issues we were dealing with and what we wanted our son to accomplish and to become in the future.  Ms. Lappin told us that she has a degree in child psychology and would be equipped to help our son better than other martial art teachers.

 When our son first started, his first instructors were Ms. Heather White and Ms. Desiree White.  We did not know at that time that both Ms. Desi and Ms. Heather were Ms. Lappin’s foster children.  Both instructors were very well equipped to teach these new students, who were young children ages 4-6 years old.  My son felt comfortable and began showing some control with his ADHD.  He wanted to come and be with his instructors as they made him feel part of a special family, not to mention the boyhood crush he had on both his instructors.  A few months later, Ms. Heather was injured in a car accident.  When my husband and I told our son, he was devastated and wanted to go to the hospital immediately.  We explained to him that he was too young to visit but he put up a fight.  We finally told him that he could call the hospital and wish Ms. Heather a “speedy recovery”.  Due to her injuries, Ms. Heather could not come back to class and my son was upset and apprehensive about going back without his “familiar” instructor.  Ms. Desi was running classes and through her training in child development, she made Michael feel right at home.  He was delighted to have that confidence back and continued to train.

 When we watched our son perform at the gup test, we noticed there was another black belt that looked very similar to Ms. Lappin.  We found out that Ms. Lappin had an older daughter.  Ms. Michelle Lappin, who lives in California, had trained with her mother and both accomplished their black belts together and she was always willing to lend a hand when she was home to visit.  Though we do not see her much, she continues to train and this past January had went to the Ki Gong seminar with her mother.  Ms. Lappin had been promoted in Ki Gong and her daughter was there again to share in that special moment.

 While Michael was training, he met Ms. Lappin’s other two children, Rachael Lappin and Joey Lappin.  They were her youngest children. He enjoyed being with them as they were about my son’s age.  As a boy, you always like to have someone to train with and to become friends with.  Needless to say, the boys are friends now and go off and do their own thing together for which I am glad as my son needed to make friends elsewhere besides his elementary school.

 During the course of several years, my son had been asking both my husband and I to train.  My husband is disabled and cannot participate so Mom kept getting asked to join.  I kept telling him no.  In 2004, I had fractured my foot so I was out of work for three months.  During that time, he was participating in the Middleburg Martial Arts creativity demonstration for the 2004 World Championships.  Hobbling on crutches, my husband and I would take him to practice and watch him.  During this time, I had developed a personal and more intense relationship with Ms. Lappin.  She was always asking how I was doing and how I was healing.  She took the time to show a sincere interest even though I was not a student.   The more I came to watch, the more I became interested. Once my foot healed, Mom gave in and tried a class.  Ms. Lappin was very pleased to see me participate in class along with my son.  She encouraged me as I was very unsure of myself, not only with coming off an injury but because I felt that I was too old.  Ms. Lappin guided me and helped me to start my journey to Black Belt.

 I felt very comfortable dealing with Ms. Lappin and eventually started to help work at the Dojang on a volunteer basis.  Months passed and I found myself spending more and more time at the Dojang helping out and getting involved in Tang Soo Do.  With Ms. Lappin’s direction, I am now working at the Dojang full time and getting involved in our regional events.
 Middleburg Martial Arts also runs an After School Martial Arts Program.  This program is run by yet another one of Ms. Lappin’s daughters, Ms. Crystal Lappin.  Ms. Crystal is fantastic with all of the students.  She is an extraordinary director who handles the day to day operations of running this program with children ranging in ages from 5 to 12 years old and running our Summer Camp.

 To this day, I am amazed at the dedication of Ms. Lappin.  It takes a true martial artist to have this level of commitment.  Not only is she the owner of Middleburg Martial Arts, the chief instructor and a leader in our community but is the mother of six wonderful children, 2 of whom are 2nd degree Black Belts, 1 who is a 1st degree Black Belt, 1 who was just promoted to 1st degree Black Belt and the last one working on achieving his Black Belt.  How she finds the time to run Middleburg Martial Arts, teach and be a mom is truly astonishing to me.  I am grateful that I found a teacher and mentor like Ms. Lappin.  She, in fact, is a remarkable role model for all of us.  My hope is that one day I can follow in her footsteps and have my sons and daughter exhibit all the qualities that her children have learned from their mother.

Tang Soo!
Ms. Louise Vileno – 3rd Gup
Mother of Michael Vileno – Cho Dan Bo and Cassandra Vileno – 8th Gup