Grandmaster Mechelle Smith has been in taekwondo since high school and teaching the Korean martial art and sport for 42 years.

"It keeps you uplifted, it keeps your mind where it needs to be. It makes you a better person, a better citizen,” said Smith.

But after more than 30 years of owning Mechelle's Way Taekwondo, she's closing the school. She and her thousands of students share memories, countless lessons and lots of growth over the past three decades.

"She’s a very special person,” said longtime student Vince DeJohn. “She's been here for a long, long time. She's brought a lot of kids up. Just some of the ones that we see now, they're in their 20s and 30s and doing great. So, it's just amazing to see that. It’s been a very big gift to be a part of that."

DeJohn and others have been with her from the onset. Others are just beginning their journies into the sport under her guidance.

Nine-year-old Dylan has been Smith’s student since he was 5. He wanted to learn self-defense and control. Now, he's a brown belt.

"It's sad because we're going to miss this place and there's a lot of memories that we all experienced together here,” said Dylan. 

Beginning April 1, all students and staff merge with Pil Sung TKD of Guilderland.

Smith has a long list of professional accomplishments, and competing and coaching has made her a legend in the sport.

Smith was an Olympic alternate in the 1980s, and in recent years won gold in both the European and Asian Pacific Masters Games.

Next, she's taking a team to the 2025 World Masters Games in Taiwan that includes some adult competitors who got into the sport because of their children.

"My wife and I are mothers of two daughters and in this society, girls are not really given the confidence and the strength to just be themselves,” said competitor Joanne Augstein-Collins. “But they learned that here, and I know that without the taekwondo background, they would not be as vocal or as strong or as confident as they are now."

In Smith’s mind, she's a normal person who accepted a challenge, and the learning has gone both ways.

"They’ve taught me how to be a parent and I didn't have kids, but, over the years of teaching and especially teaching the little ones, I can kind of relate as I watch them grow,” said Smith. “It's immense pride when I see them grow and go off to college, and so many of them have done amazing things."

As she closes the doors to her studio, Smith knows the tenants of taekwondo will always live in her heart.