This is Rowan, an artist and martial arts teacher

This is Rowan. She started attending SOS programs when she moved to the area four years ago.

“It was a great way to find friends because I didn’t have any, it introduced me to a lot of new things, and it definitely helped me find what I like to do,” she said.

While attending the Family Night program, she was introduced to Taekwondo. She has now been at Cascadia Martial Arts for four years and is working on her 2nd Dan Black belt. She is part of Cascadia’s high performance Sparring and Poomsae teams, she kickboxes, and she teaches at the local martial arts school.

Rowan enjoys art and recently her artwork was selected for Oceanside Benchmark - A Community Art Project, a initiative of the Parksville Chamber of Commerce. Rowan heard about the project through SOS, and is pictured here painting her mountain scene on the bench at SOS.

“I love the artistic aspect of it and it’s a fun way to be more involved in my community,” she said.