NATCHEZ &8212; The Moo Sul Kwan Martial Arts Studio in Natchez has enjoyed tremendous success over the years, and now they have been rewarded.

The school will hold its first-ever black belt certification this Saturday, with students from throughout the Miss-Lou and Vicksburg going for black belts and lower belts.

&8220;This is the first time that a martial arts school in Natchez has gotten organized enough to host black belt testing,&8221; said Moo Sul Kwan instructor Ken Rogers, a sixth-degree black belt. &8220;It&8217;s the first time in this city. You need to have 11 degrees of black belts to do testing, and since I had six, and we&8217;ve got a third-degree and second-degree, we had enough to do it here.&8221;

Rogers said the testing was granted in part due to the schedule of one student in Vicksburg.

&8220;He was going to test a few weeks ago, but he was in Germany,&8221; Rogers said. &8220;He&8217;s traveling so much these days it just didn&8217;t work out to have him go to Illinois (Moo Sul Kwan&8217;s tradition site for black belt testing), so we were granted permission to test him here, as well as some other students.&8221;

Rogers said he had received special permission from Moo Sul Kwan&8217;s Grand Master in Illinois to have the testing in Natchez, and he felt it would be a great opportunity to impress the Grand Master.

&8220;This will be a good opportunity to show our Grand Master we can have this and we can judge our students impartially,&8221; Rogers said. &8220;We can show we can judge fairly and not show favoritism to our own students.

&8220;The fact that we&8217;re having it here shows that our Grand Master has faith in us.&8221;