Jun A. Evangelista was born in the Province of Pangasinan, Luzon (Northern Part), Philippines. He started in Aikido in 2003 under Batumbalani Sensei (Aikikai, Nishio Style and Singkaw Aikido (Scrima) Style, passing his "Beginner's Test" in 2010. He trained in Shotokan Karate and Tae Kwon Do, competing in the inter-college intramurals and won a silver medal before training under Batambalani Sensei. Jun has a Bachelor of Science Degree in English and a Master's degree in Ministry, He is currently working on his PHD in Jacksonville. When he moved to Gainesville in 2008 he met Tom Huffman Sensei and began training with him. This training helped Jun to begin to understand the relationships between the Nishio Style and the Singkaw Aikido Style. When he was training in the Philippines, Batumbalani Sensei would often talk about Nishio Sensei and demonstrate more complicated techniques. At that time he didn't have anything to compare the styles to. The internet had not developed Youtube yet. This understanding of the differences of the styles revealed to Jun why it had taken so long before he could pass the "Beginner's Test". Even though learning had been difficult, Jun was sold on Aikido right from the start. Now he enjoys Sensei Huffman's teaching with the combination of the Iwama and Nishio Styles and feels imitating him to be the highest form of praise and appreciation.