CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY SHEET
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Name: Lieutenant
JG JoAnna Hersch Position: Security Officer Birth world: Toronto Historical Park, Earth Age: 26 (2289) Personal Data: Height: 5’6" Immediate Family: Mother: Anna Marie Hersch |
Physical Appearance: LTJG JoAnna Hersch is very petite and often referred to a "china doll" look by her peers. She wears her long hair in a braid when on duty. When off duty she likes to wear her waist length hair loose. Since JoAnna is petite she has learned to use her appearance to her advantage. She appears to be soft and child like, much younger than she really is. She must work hard to maintain her figure and can be found training in most of her off duty hours.
Her eyes are what her grandmother, Evelyne Victoria Hill, called chameleon eyes. They change color depending on her mood. You can always judge her mood by her eyes.
JoAnna sports a small dragon tattoo on her left shoulder blade.
Personality: LTJG Hersch is a somewhat shy person. She enjoys her own company and is content to spend time alone, in training or painting. If asked, JoAnna is quite willing and happy to share her skill at Tae Kwon Do, Chung Do Kwan, Kendo, Shotokan, Aiki Jiujitsu, T'ai Chi Ch'uan, but she would never be the one to suggest it. She has very few close friends and no interest in male companionship at this stage of her career. She is slow to anger due to her easy going nature and her intense martial arts training. JoAnna would prefer to reason her way out of a situation than to argue, but can and will fight to defend that which she believes in. She takes her responsibilities seriously and will volunteer for jobs no one else wishes to do.
Other Pertinent Data: JoAnna is a Grandmaster 9th degree black belt Tae Kwon Do, she also holds a 4th Degree Chung Do Kwan, 3rd Degree Kendo, 2nd Degree Shotokan, 3rd Degree Aiki Jiujitsu, and Red Sash T'ai Chi Ch'uan. She enjoys painting and several of her paintings of Dragons can be found in her quarters. JoAnna has also been known to carry a small sketchbook and charcoal with her to make quick sketches during spare moments. She can be found during her lunch break with sketchbook beside her plate, sketching away as she eats. When JoAnna is stressed, she loves to "pig-out" on her favorite cream filled pastries.
JoAnna keeps several scrapbooks of her Olympic days and the entire collection of the works of the 20th century author, Anne McCaffery, in bound book form. Her most valued possession is her grandmother's platinum and diamond eternity ring, which she wears on her right ring finger.
History: JoAnna Hersch was born in the Toronto Historical Park, located in Canada, in 2289. Her parents where the current curators of the park so JoAnna spent the first four years of her life roaming around the streets of the 20th Century city, exploring all the old buildings. At age of 4, while on their way to visit JoAnna's maternal grandmother, Evelyne, the family was involved in a deadly shuttle accident. Both of her parents where kill instantly, while JoAnna escaped with no more that a few scrapes and bruises. Orphaned, JoAnna was taken in by her only living relative, Evelyne. She spent the remainder of her childhood living at the beach on Georgian Bay where her grandmother made her home. That summer JoAnna enjoyed carefree days of playing on the beach, building sand castles, swimming in the clear blue water, and going for long walks with Evelyne. At night she could often be found lying in the sand dunes staring at the distant stars. She would dream of soaring among those star, visiting far off places.
In the winter months, JoAnna hide indoors from the bitter cold. She had begun taking comfort in food, particularly cream filled pastries. She quickly went from the mire slip of a child who had wondered the street of Toronto, to a rather round lazy child. When she started school, her happy carefree days ended. Her life became what JoAnna later called "a living hell." Her grandmother, while kind and loving, was suffering greatly from the lost of her only child, JoAnna's mother. Evelyne did not notice JoAnna's weight gain nor the changes in the child once she began school. Once a carefree, happy child, JoAnna had now become withdrawn and sulky. It was not until JoAnna's second grade teacher mentioned to Evelyne that JoAnna was often alone in the schoolyard and never joined in the different games and activities, that Evelyne realized that something was wrong. JoAnna's schoolmates had been teasing her about her weight.
Evelyne finally snapped out of her depression and realized that unless she did something soon, she could very well lose her only grandchild too. She began by taking JoAnna to a doctor to be sure her weight gain was not caused by a medical condition. She then began monitoring JoAnna's food intake and quickly realized it wasn't so much how much the child ate, but what. She then signed JoAnna up for several activities in mountain biking, horseback riding, skating, swimming and Tae Kwon Do. While JoAnna enjoyed all the various activities, it was Tae Kwon Do that she excelled at. By the time she was thirteen and starting high school, she already had a 3rd degree black belt Tae Kwon Do and was winning most every competition she entered. It was then that she caught the eye of the world-renowned Tae Kwon Do coach, Barnaby Smythe. Smythe was the Terran intergalactic Olympic coach and saw in JoAnna something he had rarely seen in someone so young.
With Evelyne's blessing, who was now well into her 90's and in failing health, Smythe took the teenage under his wing. JoAnna loved the intergalactic competitions that Smythe took her to. She was finally out amongst the stars. In the 2307 Intergalactic Olympics, JoAnna became the youngest ever gold medalist in the sport of Tae Kwon Do. This gold metal was especially significant as JoAnna's beloved grandmother passed away the day before the final competition. JoAnna proved to both herself and Smythe that she could retain her concentration in the face of great adversity.
Four years later JoAnna again won the gold medal under tragic circumstances. This time it was Smythe who was terminally ill. This ability to retain her concentration at times of great adversity and stress have helped JoAnna many times in the future.
It was on JoAnna's 20th birthday, shortly before the death of her mentor, Smythe, that JoAnna made the decision to enter Starfleet Academy. She realized that she could not compete all her life and the prospect of serving on board a starship appealed to her much more than being stuck on Terra in a DoJo.
While at the academy JoAnna struggled in her studies. It was being put on probation that made her realize that to obtain her dream she would have to work as hard, or harder, at her studies as she did her training. Finally she graduated near the bottom of her class in 2309. Her first assignment was on a starbase where she worked her way up to the rank of Lieutenant jg. She proved to be a top-notch security officer.
Finally, in 2315, JoAnna received her first big break. She received duty orders to report to the USS PHOENIX as a new Security Officer. She couldn’t believe her luck. Finally she would be on a starship and serve under a Captain that she had read about in the Starfleet News. Her dreams were coming true.