Meet Skylar Smith and Noah Nicholas! Our Swimbassadors for the first ever Gorée Project.

We know Skylar and Noah are Howard University graduates and former Co-captains of the HU swim and dive team. We know they were stellar athletes and students for all 4 years of their college careers. We know they are natural leaders and will do an amazing job representing the Black American swim community during their trip to Senegal for the Gorée Project. But we want to know more.

We need to meet the real Skylar and Noah!

So, we asked Noah and Skylar 10 questions to help us get to know them better. Their answers were both insightful and hilarious. Read their responses and decide if you’re going to be on #TeamNoahgoreeproject, #TeamSkylargoreeproject, or cheer for them both on #Goreeproject.

Skylar: Favorite super hero is definitely Thor. Omg I’m in love with that man. Don’t even get me started with him!!! Huge fan! Like he has a HAMMER THAT SUMMONS THUNDER! Wow.

Skylar: Omg you know what pisses me off?! Eating while talking, I will throw up right now thinking about it.

Skylar: What I like most about HU is the family environment. Everyone is so welcoming and always there to help no matter if they know you or not. Everyone looks out for each other.

Skylar: My proudest moment was finishing all four years of swimming and attending my last conference. Being a student athlete is very difficult and it takes a lot of self discipline, time management, and mental strength. I am happy I set a goal of swimming for all four year and finished them on a high note by being captain for my last two years.

Skylar: Never been to Africa! So I’m so excited to go this September.

Skylar: No one in my immediate family has gone to Africa.

Skylar: My whole family knows how to swim but my dad is scared of the ocean.

Skylar: Last movie I went to was Invisible Man. Omg CRAZY! I hate scary movies but it looked very interesting. I hope no one out there is trying to make an invisible suit. I’m just not going to think about it… I’m stressed.

Skylar: I know how to cook a little! I’m really trying out here. I’m so good at cooking Mexican food, so come to my place for Taco Tuesday!

Skylar: I still want to be an entrepreneur, I have so many hobbies I want to tap into so I can’t pin point what my dream job is. But I love sports, media, talking to people, Disney, all things art. I’m all over the place.

Skylar: Instagram all the way! I don’t even know how to work Facebook anymore.

Noah: My Family. Family supports each other through the ups and the downs.

Noah: Being taken advantage of. That, and stealing

Noah: The HU community, especially the HU Swim and Dive Team.

Noah: I can name a lot of proud moments in my life. But there is one moment that sums up My proudest moment about myself: My junior year I swam the 1000 free at the senior meet and I won by 1/100th of a second. This to me was a metaphor for life. There were so many times I wanted to quit in that long exhausting race but I didn’t and that is what allowed me to win. You always win when you don’t quit, one way or another.

Noah: ZERO; Can’t wait to visit for my first time though!

Noah: ZERO – a much needed trip as you can see!

Noah: No, my mom was very good about raising her children to learn-to-swim and combat the stereotype that Black people don’t swim.

Noah: Us.. lol That was such a great movie. Lol I love scary movies that make you think and have hidden meanings.

Noah: Lol give me 3 months. I’m going vegan so I’m trying to learn to cook some good vegan dishes!

Noah: Every professional athlete: baseball player, basketball player, football player—it pretty much centered around what sport I was playing at the time. Then swimming happened and I wanted to go pro in swimming. Lol I guess I haven’t changed that much.

Noah: To be honest, it would be more appropriate to say neither. Lol I barely post on either because at first, I didn’t like the idea of social media. Back then it seemed just like a huge popularity contest. But now that I am using it as a platform to spread a message, I like using it a lot more. But to answer the question: IG.