By day, Jeff Horneman helps protect federal land against encroachment as a member of the Army Corps of Engineers.

By night, he helps young people learn to protect themselves as a taekwondo instructor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Brackenridge.

“We’re teaching kids discipline and how to grow mentally,” Horneman said.

And though it might be cliche, Horneman advises his students the same way Uncle Ben once did with Peter Parker: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

The Harrison resident became hooked on martial arts as a teenager living in the 1980s when Chuck Norris movies and reruns of the television series “Kung Fu” were popular. And he discovered taekwondo through a rather unlikely source: the Rev. Robert Connolly, a Pittsburgh native who founded the Se-Jong Tae Kwon Do Martial Arts Educational System in the 1970s as a free, nonprofit school.

Connolly, who died in 2021, went on to found the schools at each of his parishes, and when he transferred to another parish, his senior students would take over leadership. In addition to Brackenridge, there are schools in New Stanton, Cheswick, Freeport, Darlington, Cecil, Burgettstown, Castle Shannon and more.

Horneman said Connolly even taught taekwondo to some of the nuns.

“Some people were already terrified of nuns,” he said. “And then father goes and makes them into black belts!”

In his day job, Horneman is a real estate specialist, protecting federal land and working to ensure landowners abide by their property lines. He developed a mapping tool that lets users see property lines, regulatory boundaries, reservoirs and channel lines.

In roughly five years, Horneman and his team mapped every inch of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Pittsburgh District territory. Just like earning a black belt, it took dedication and wasn’t something that simply happened overnight.

“You’re never an expert in life. You’re going to learn till the day you die, and I hold very clear on that,” he said.

At a recent class in Brackenridge, students concluded by breaking wooden boards with their bare hands and feet, and took part in a potluck dinner afterward.

“Jeff Horneman is a saint,” said Cathy Manganaro of Verona during dinner, the mother and grandmother of students who trained under Horneman for years.

She has three adopted children enrolled in the same class as her grandchildren. Overall, she has put 10 of her kids through the taekwondo program.

“My three little ones have special needs,” Manganaro said. “They have been diagnosed with autism, ADHD and other intellectual disabilities, but Jeff has all the patience in the world with them.”

Horneman said parents have seen marked improvements with kids’ behavior and focus through martial arts training.

“I can’t say enough good things about the program,” Manganaro said. “They don’t just give you your belt. You have to earn your belt. Taekwondo teaches them respect, discipline, honor.”

Over two decades, Horneman has molded 12 black belt students. All four of his sons have taken taekwondo at some point in their youth, and one son, Nico, recently has returned to the arts to earn his black belt.

Horneman said when students earn their belts, he asks them what it means. Some think it means they have become masters, but he is quick to correct them.

“No. It means you’re now a beginner. Once you get your black belt, you have just learned the basics,” he said.

Horneman said he doesn’t think professionals ever truly master their craft.

“Father (Connolly) always considered himself a student, even being the highest-ranking person in the room,” he said. “I wholeheartedly follow Father’s philosophy, not only in taekwondo but in life. I will never consider myself an ‘expert surveyor.’ Each day, I am learning more. I am a humble student, forever.”

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