These photos were taken at the Drexel Armory in Philadelphia. The Drexel Aikido club held a seminar there some time around 2002 or a bit earlier.
Of particular interest in these photos are the belt colors. These photos are from shortly after Sensei Wirth decided to move to using colored belts for the kyu ranks. Originally, 6th through 3rd kyu wore white, while 2nd and 1st kyu wore brown. In these photos, students from Maryland are wearing the newer-scheme red belts for 2nd kyu, while the Allentown students are still wearing the old-scheme brown for 2nd kyu. So this was a once-only chance to see 2nd kyu students in both colors. The testing was epic at this seminar. There were five solid 1st kyu tests that day.
Notably present is Sempai Miguel Salguedo. He’s fifth from the left, hands on hips, with his trademark smile, in the group shot, and also pinning Sempai Pervizpour after shihonage.
Yudansha present were Sempais (l-to-r in group photo) Pervizpour, Jackson, McNett, Ross and Olinger.
