NEWS & EVENTS
White Lab Coat, Black Belt
How One Doctoral Student at FPB Brought Home the Gold
Ann Serenko, MS, RN is currently a DNP student at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. She is also Clinical Director of Research in Urology at University Hospitals of Cleveland. In early July, she attended the 3rd World Taekwando Culture Expo in Junju, South Korea, where she won the Gold Medal in the Women’s Black Belt division for Poomse (Forms).
Taekwando is Korea’s national sport and among the most popular forms of martial arts in the world. Loosely translated, the name “taekwondo” means “the way of the foot and fist.” For the past three years, an exposition event has been held for competitors from all over the world to come and participate in the sport.
“I’ve been a nurse for 27 years,” Ann says. “I love people and enjoy helping them make good decisions regarding their health. I consider myself a role model because I take care of myself, eat healthy, sleep well, exercise daily, and try not to develop bad habits. Through nursing, I influence patients in a positive way by showing them what works for me and what might possibly work for them.”
Although she believes that education is most beneficial, “sometimes actions speak for themselves,” she says. “I’ve been engaged in taekwondo for 23 years, but to be good at it you have to cross-train.”
She bikes several miles to work and back each day to maintain cardiovascular strength, lifts weights once or twice a week for muscle toning and definition, and uses an elliptical machine to measure calorie consumption. For a refreshing change, she sometimes swims in the university pool.
Ann views both nursing and taekwondo as important parts of her life. She explains that they create a balance between what she does for others and what she does for herself. “Taekwondo has taught me to listen, to be patient, to be disciplined, to be in control, and to keep achieving higher goals,” she says. “ It has also provided me with determination to achieve my master’s degree, patience to be successful as a single mom, motivation to pursue my DNP, the courage to keep challenging myself with goals that may first appear to be unattainable, and confidence to deal with everyday challenges.”
Some of these challenges extend into her role as a nurse. Because her taekwondo training brings out her assertiveness, “I firmly stand to make my point and to speak up for what is right,” she says.
Ann is an advocate for patient rights and for the nursing profession in general. This element of her life, Ann claims, brings out her soft side.
“I really care about people and when I work as a nurse, I open myself up to being vulnerable,” she says “I share my feelings, my joy, my pain, and my disappointments. I empathize with people and can relate to what sufferings they may have experienced.”
Taekwondo and nursing are very different, Ann says, and one would not believe a person is capable of both a soft side and an assertive side.
“But when you look at both of them from my perspective, the two aspects truly complement each other, don’t they?”