Tom Heriaud, local instructor, promoter and supporter of the martial arts was promoted to a 10th-degree grand master in Sandwich.

Heriaud has been in the martial arts since 1964 and was a student of the late Master James Chapman. He instructed for many years at the Aurora YMCA and the Plano YMCA and later taught at his own school in Naperville with his partner and longtime friend, the late Tom Letuli.

Heriaud came to Dojo Dynamics in Sandwich that evening to promote Nick Spies to a first-degree black belt, known as a sensei. Spies is a student of Shihan (master instructor) Scott Francis, a sixth-degree black belt and owner of Dojo Dynamics Martial Arts Studio.