R.Quam Martial Arts Academy

 

Teacher instills martial-arts values in second-graders

By DAVE RICHARDSON Chronicle Staff Writer

BELGRADE -- Whether he’s coaching a black-belt student on how to land a lethal knife-hand strike to the throat of an opponent, or teaching a cute second-grader how to add a column of numbers, Randy Quam is in his element - he’s a teacher to the core.

Quam, who teaches second grade at Ridge View Elementary School, also teaches Tae Kwon Do - an ancient Korean martial art - at his own gym, the RQuam Martial Arts Academy on Glider Lane.

Dividing his time between 20 feisty second-graders and 100-plus Tae Kwon Do students comes naturally to Quam, 48, who says he discovered his love of teaching when he discovered martial arts almost by accident as a teenager.

“I was very athletic all through elementary school,” Quam said. “I played football in seventh-grade but I was too small. I was too short for basketball. I was a good runner, but not really into track. So the alternative had to be something else.

Quam joined a Tae Kwon Do club at Montana State University in 1973 and never looked back. And, he said, his martial arts experience brought out a hidden talent for teaching that he recognized and embraced, he said.

“As you move up through the ranks you are required to teach other students,” Quam said. “And I found that teaching martial arts just sparked my desire to teach school.”

That inspired Quam to get a masters degree in education, and a job at Ridge View, he said. And the lessons from the “dojang” (Korean for “martial arts school”) are transferable, even essential, to the academic classroom, he added.

“It’s absolutely 100 percent respect, self control and responsibility,” Quam said.

Quam said many of his Ridge View students choose to sit on exercise balls instead of chairs in class, which helps build physical confidence. He even teaches the kids some basic self-defense techniques, and Korean words and commands from the dojang.

“The kids actually enjoy the kind of militaristic aspect of it,” Quam said. “When I say ‘char yut!’ [Korean for ‘attention!’] they’re up like a shot. I don’t do it every day all day, but it’s a good exercise. And it’s a little novelty for them.”

Quam said both the school administration and the kids parents seem to enjoy his quirky program as well.

“They say it’s a good thing, the kids really enjoy being in my class and the parents enjoy having their kids in my class,” he added.

After teaching martial arts for decades and school for 13 years, Quam says the two are inseparable parts of his life.

Quam remembered a day when, after he’d been teaching at Ridge View for a couple of years and juggling teaching Tae Kwon Do at one of his schools in Ennis, Principal Mark Helgren asked if he would consider giving up the martial art to focus entirely on teaching his troop of second-graders.

“He asked me if I could quit teaching Tae Kwon Do,” Quam said. “I told him, ‘Mark, I can’t. If I can’t teach Tae Kwon Do, I can’t teach second grade. It’s one of my tools in the tool chest throughout my life.’”

At least a half-dozen of his second-grade brood are also students at his Tae Kwon Do school, Quam said. And though Tae Kwon Do may be his first love, he’s equally inspired by teaching both groups of students, he said.

“They’re an energetic bunch, but they love life, and that’s what’s important,” Quam said.