West High Junior Colton Skuster recently competed on the wildly popular TV Show “American Ninja Warrior.” American Ninja Warrior, or ANW for short, is a televised contest where contestants run, jump, and swing through a grueling course to try and get to the end the fastest, without falling into the pool of water beneath the course. Before he competed, I was able to interview Skuster about his achievement, and talk some about his academic ambitions as well.

Q: How would you describe ANW to someone who doesn’t know what it is?

A: ANW is an athletic TV show that combines Gymnastics, climbing, and parkour. A lot of upper body climbing, a lot of running parkour, and a lot of swinging, quick lower body movements is required.

Q:What made you want to start training for ANW?

A: I saw a thing on the news that there was a gym nearby, this was about 4 years ago, in 7th grade. I said ‘this looks really cool’ so I went there and I tried the classes. I was really weak at first but I really liked the whole idea of it. I got really good at it, and then applied for the TV show and it kinda just went from there.

Q:What does making it onto American Ninja Warrior mean to you?

A: For me it is a symbol of a lot of hard work finally paying off. I’ve been dreaming about this moment for years, and I have been waiting for the day I would be old enough – usually it’s 19 but they made an exception…so they are letting me on at 17 – so its pretty cool to get a shot 2 years before I thought I could and, I’m going to make the most of it.

Q:What are you most looking forward to about competing on the show?

A: I would say the two biggest things are: One, getting to meet a lot of people that share the same interest as me and this is their dream as well; there’s going to be a lot of those people out there. Second of all, there’s a lot of money on the line. A lot of potential to make some good money doing something I love, so it’s a win-win situation.

Q:Do you have a favorite obstacle on the course?

A:My favorite obstacle is definitely the ‘Salmon Ladder.’ It’s basically an obstacle where there’s a bar that sits on a set of rungs and you gotta do a quick pull-up and move the bar up to the next set, so it’s like climbing a ladder with a bar that moves.

Q:Is there anyone you would like to thank?

A: I’d like to thank all of the people at the gym that have pushed me to get to where I am today. My family, my friends at school, and all the people who told me it would never be possible, because look where I am now.

Q:What Academic interests do you have?

A: I’m taking IB film, which is a 2 year long class – that’s probably my favorite class right now. I have always been a fan of making videos and such so it’s kinda cool I can do something I enjoy for part of a school grade.

As High School students, we all have dreams about what we want to do in life. For Colton Skuster, his dream has become a reality. The episode of ANW in which he will compete will come out over the summer, on NBC and Peacock. We wish Colton the best of luck on his journey to Vegas and beyond.