Khara Pastean, a senior on the Liberty Taekwondo team, grew up in Romania learning Taekwondo and said her path to Liberty was guided by God.
“God basically gave me a shove and said, ‘Go,’” Pastean said. “I wasn’t really expecting to come to the U.S. for college, although I wasn’t really sure what else I would do since Romanian university systems don’t usually recognize home-school systems.”
Pastean said she heard about Liberty through a friend.
“One of my friends told me, ‘You should apply to Liberty, they have a good computer science program, and it’s Christian,’” Pastean said. “I applied and I got in.”
Pastean described how she saw God working after she improved her SAT score to earn a scholarship to come to Liberty.
“I was 50 points under the scholarship limit,” Pastean said. “I said, ‘I’m going to study another half year and take the SAT again, and if I get 50 points back, that means God is telling me to go.’ That year, they dropped the limit for the scholarship 20 points, so I only needed 30. But I did get my 50 points back, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to go.’”
Pastean said she began Taekwondo when she was younger because of her parents, leading to her love for the sport.
“I started doing Taekwondo when I was between 8 and 10,” Pastean said. “My brother and I were homeschooled and my parents decided we needed something to do to be active.”
Pastean competed in other martial arts as well as swimming.
“I used to do swimming lessons before Taekwondo practice,” Pastean said. “When we moved to the city for four years we did judo, and then once COVID happened, we moved back and stopped. So, it’s been martial arts and a bit of swimming.”
Pastean said the experience of moving from Romania to the United States has been challenging.
“There’s a lot of differences. Culturally, food-wise, just how interaction with people goes,” Pastean said. “I remember my first year I was very shy speaking English because I never had to listen to English and respond instantaneously. It’s only through the grace of God and practice that I’m able to be comfortable in English, which is great.”
Pastean said the Taekwondo team has been important to her while in college.
“It has been a great experience,” Pastean said. “The Taekwondo team has been my most consistent engagement throughout, and honestly, it’s probably my closest group of friends. It’s great to be able to compete together and lift each other up. I love the people and I enjoy being on the team.”
Pastean said her favorite accomplishment came at nationals.
“Last nationals, my teammate and I managed to be second and third place in our division, which was amazing,” Pastean said. “Nationals is a great opportunity to go with your team and meet other teams that are not just in your area, and to minister to people.”
Pastean enjoyed having the chance to be a light for Christ in and outside competition. It made her feel accomplished outside of her success as a student-athlete.
“It’s always such a great feeling to know that you’re not just fighting other people, but you’re also being a good example of what it means to bring God’s joy and peace to other people,” Pastean said.
Pastean said her coach taught her the importance of faithfulness.
“My coach has been a great help with reinforcing the idea that if you’re faithful in the little things, you’ll be faithful in the big things,” Pastean said. “Taekwondo is not the end of the world, but if I’m not faithful in the little things, can I guarantee I will be faithful in the bigger things, such as my faith?”
Pastean is completing her computer science degree this semester and hopes to continue her education.
“There’s a lot of questions right now,” Pastean said. “I hope to do my master’s, but so far it looks like I’m not going to be able to do it at Liberty. But I know God has a plan, and he has made so many miracles in my life — being at Liberty and being on the Taekwondo team. So, I know that he has something that is going to be good and perfect.”
Gibson is a sports writer for the Liberty Champion.