BruceCosta
Bruce Costa
Upper Bucks County
Prior to his current endeavors, Bruce Costa worked in, presented to, and consulted for various higher education, manufacturing, publishing, distribution, and retail industries. He became an internationally recognized trade author and speaker for Marvel Comics. Costa ended his 3-hour commute from Bucks County to Manhattan to become a stay-at-home dad to three great kids while working as a freelance writer and storyteller. He hosted assemblies and classroom appearances for elementary schools and organizations throughout the Delaware Valley, and had over 250 feature articles and column installments published. Costa also spent 10 years serving as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician. Today Bruce Costa is a partner at A+ Student Housing, where he teaches young people to understand their rights and obligations under legal contracts. He is the founder of Granite Forest Dojo, a school and community center in Perkasie specializing in traditional karate instruction, mindfulness meditation and philanthropic fundraising. After 13 years, GFDojo recently hosted a ribbon cutting, grand opening, and 4th Annual Kick-a-Thon fundraiser in its student-built, new Perkasie facility. Serving as its Chief Instructor, Costa is a fifth degree black belt in his 36th year of training under the world’s most respected Shotokan practitioner, Teruyuki Okazaki. Costa is the author of Welcome To KARATE, a book for beginning karate students. He is also a meditation teacher, practitioner, recipient of The Five Mindfulness Trainings and lay aspirant to the Order of Interbeing. In 2009, Zen Master and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thầy Thích Nhất Hạnh named him Tâm Chân Bi (Heart of True Compassion). Inspired by the passing of one of his young students four years ago, Costa serves as a board member to The Christopher Court Foundation, which raises awareness and, so far, more than $150,000 for pediatric brain tumor research at CHOP (over $17,000 of which was raised at this year's Kick-a-Thon). Costa is a member of the four-rider Team Revolution, whose goal of riding bicycles across the United States in only eight days is to raise $100,000 toward the end to childhood brain cancer.