Passion is what brings SHS Junior Nathan Miller to Capitol Sports Center on a daily basis. Down the hall and up the stairs, sits three rooms lit by fluorescent lights and lined in mirrors with picture frames scattered about. The sterility of the complex would make it feel unused if not for the the friendly people bustling about with smiling faces wearing vibrant belts.

This place is Plainfield Karate, and to Miller it is a community of people trying to improve each other through the practice of the martial arts.

“One of the biggest parts of karate is that you have to be open minded, and you have to be humble,” Miller said.

Miller started training in karate in September of last year, and he has continued training every day for two to three hours. He is ranked as a go kyu green belt, which is the fifth rank in the kyu system. He says he got to this point through hard work and dedication to his craft.

“Everybody thinks that it is the black belt that you want. It’s not true with us,” Miller said. “The black belt is climbing a ladder, all of the kyu ranks, that’s the steps of a ladder. When you get the sho dan, that’s the black belt, now you can see everything and start to advance more. A black belt is just another color of a belt. It just means you’ve dedicated your life and you know what you are supposed to know, but now you can see it’s climbing the ladder, and now you can see over.”

Coming from a fairly non-competitive gym, Miller seeks self-fulfillment in the sport. He does not place accomplishment on trophies. Miller wants to better himself, his body and soul, through karate. He trains rigorously and takes takes into account every critique and suggestion from his senseis to better himself.

“He is a very dedicated and hard-training student,” Sensei Anthony Hathaway said. “He’s in class every time the door is open, unless there is a family thing going on, and he trains every time I have training at my house… He goes on every outing that I go on, he’s always invited and somehow he always makes time to go to them. So, I couldn’t ask for a better student. I need a whole room full of them, actually.”