Words: Sydney Pizza
Do you know an athlete that is also a STANDOUT academic? Well, check it off your bucket list, because if you don’t, you do now!
Let us introduce you to the other side of our very own Nicole Phillips! We know you know her as an upcoming professional woman, ambassador of the sport, and good friend, but did you also know that she is a super star in school? Nicole is getting ready to graduate from high school and has been recognized as the ‘Standout Senior’ from her school, and has recently been surprised with the scholarship, another high honor recognition for all her outstanding work! Let’s hear what Nicole has to say about it all:
“Hi! My name is Nicole Phillips! I am graduating high school this year from Hillsborough Virtual school, and I am so happy to be chosen as my school’s standout senior! I have been doing classes with Hillsborough Virtual full time since my sophomore year because it allows me the opportunity and flexibility to travel to compete in my sport, skimboarding! I have been a part of the National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society for the three years I have been here, and I also swam competitively for school and club teams for my freshman, sophomore, and junior years! I keep myself busy between academics, sports, and work, where I teach kids how to swim!
Senior year has been a whirlwind for me, starting off with my house unfortunately flooding in September 2024, causing my family and I to move into our camper for 6 months while we fixed the house, and we just moved back home a few weeks ago. As the year went on, I continued with my high school classes, dual enrollment classes, college applications and training for skimboarding! After I was accepted to Florida Atlantic University, I committed there and will start attending in the fall to major in nursing. As far as skimboarding goes, even with everything else going on, I was still able to focus on progressing to the point where I recently went professional and won my first professional competition in Panama City Beach, FL! Skimboarding is 100% my passion, and I absolutely love the sport, the family-feel, and the opportunities it has brought me. I was able to travel to Brazil with the Skim USA team in 2024, I am now riding for Zap Skimboards, which I believe is the best board manufacturer out there! The friends I have made through this sport have become my family and I wouldn’t give it up for the world! It has taught me some super valuable life lessons like the importance of working hard and the value of community, which I will use a lot later in my life! Some of my greatest accomplishments in high school include graduating 10th in my class with an unweighted GPA of 3.96 and a weighted GPA of 5.52, participating in the 2025 Student Forum Meeting with the county’s superintendents, and receiving the ‘Bright Futures’ Florida Medallion Scholarship. This has been such an exciting year, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds!”
