GU Tae Kwon Do Club
Tai Chi
Tae Kwon Do
Martial Foodie
History of Georgetown University Tae Kwon Do Club
Performing at GGM Rhee's speech in commemoration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month at the U.S. Department of Justice. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Our performance at the Korean Cultural Festival landed us on one of South Korea's major newspapers, "JoongAng IlBo" on April 11, 2011.
In the fall of 2001, Master Mickey Lee founded the Georgetown University Tae Kwon Do (GUTKD) Club as a freshman at Georgetown University. He established the club for the purpose of adding another dimension to the school’s diversity by sharing and performing martial arts skills to promote physical conditioning and self-defense, and to attain mental and physical balance.
A major turning point occurred in the fall of 2002 when “the founder of Tae Kwon Do in America,” Great Grand Master Jhoon Rhee himself joined GUTKD Club as a mentor. For more details, click here and scroll down. Not only has he overseen rank promotions and taught special classes, GGM Rhee has infused our club with his martial arts action philosophy and helped us to become a Jhoon Rhee Tae Kwon Do school.
In the spring of 2004, the Georgetown University Tae Kwon Do Club began an annual tradition for 10 years in a row: the Martial Arts Retreat. An unparalleled weekend retreat of advanced martial arts training, this yearly event is an intense boot camp in all things martial arts. Based on the diverse martial arts background among the instructors and members from 2003-2004, the retreat was conceived in order to also share and appreciate the differences and similarities among various styles of martial arts.
GUTKD Club has promoted hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, including 3 Black Belts: Ms. K. Chu (2006), Mr. B. Chung (2006), and Mr. R. Summe (2012).
The Georgetown University Tae Kwon Do Club has performed at numerous venues both on and off campus. Off campus on-stage performances include Tae Kwon Do demonstrations at the U.S. Department of Justice (2003) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2004) accompanying GGM Rhee's speeches in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month as well as pre-show demo for Jet Li's "Unleashed" at Loew's Theater in Georgetown (2005) in front of a packed audience of 400+.
On campus performances include starring at AsiaFest (2003, 2005-2009, 2011-14), Georgetown Day (2002-2005, 2009), Korean Student Association's SeoulFest (2007) and Korean Cultural Festival (2011), MSB International Night (2010), Taiwanese American Student Association's Night Market (2012), and World Tai Chi Qigong Day (2015). To view some video of our performances, click here.