Public Employee Press

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Taekwondo champ is union child

Local 1549 member Jacqueline Scott is very proud of her daughter.

Brittany Elizabeth Scott was a shy 7-year-old in 2002 when she and her dad, Alphonso Scott, enrolled together in a class offered by the Taekwondo Institute of Queens. Dad had to withdraw because of knee surgery, but his daughter kept going — and going — as the summer experiment awakened her passion for excellence.

Now 13, Brittany Scott has earned a second-degree black belt in the karate-like Korean martial art and is working on her third. She began entering competitions at 9 and last summer she placed third in the U.S. Nationals. She also won the 2nd place silver medal in the Junior Olympics. This summer she will compete again in the U.S. Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The 8th grade student at Most Precious Blood Catholic school in Queens is also on the honor roll and a member of the school’s swim team.

“She really knows how to handle herself now,” said Jacqueline Scott, an Eligibility Specialist at Food Stamps F43 in Queens. “My husband was all for this. I love it too, but I still watch with my eyes closed!”