Janel Pido of Aquinas high school is one of one. This class of 2021 senior is not only a member of her varsity volleyball and track teams, but is also an international competitor in USA Taekwondo. 

Janel started taekwondo at the age of 5, and started competing at the age of 7. She is a second degree black belt and trains four to five days a week for competitions. She has been named an All-American Taekwondo athlete as she ranks in the top 10% in her division for the past two years. Janel was the California State Champion in 2016, 2017, and 2018 and also placed second at the 2018 US Open. In 2019, Janel won the Colorado, Utah, and Washington state championships. As an All-American athlete, Janel has been able to travel to Colorado Springs to train with the US Olympic Taekwondo Coaches at the USAT Center of Excellence.

Prior to the pandemic, Janel won the 2020 Arizona State Championships. In the future, Janel will use everything she had gained from her taekwondo career and apply them to her life after high school.