UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – In 2019, reality sunk in for Kamar Skeete while he was sitting alone in his South Korea hotel room eating Korean barbeque.
He thought, "This is pretty cool. I'm really out here doing this."
Skeete grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and started fencing because his mom didn't want him playing so many video games. A few years later, he found himself at the 2010 summer nationals being held in his hometown.
Throughout his years training and competing for Team USA, he has traveled to over 40 countries and has met and competed against people from all over the world.
Skeete said, "What I like most about fencing is the fact that we meet so many different people that I normally wouldn't get to meet without it."
Skeete's love for both fencing and traveling has ignited his passion for community service, international government and economics, and providing relief for those less fortunate.
"I would like to make an impact in a lot of the countries that I have seen and visited because of fencing. I've seen a lot of places and met a lot of different people. I really want to be involved in the bettering of someone's country," Skeete said.
"I've always loved learning about culture and have been interested in learning about what the world is, and fencing gave me the perfect outlet to find out. The world is a really interesting place and every place I go offers me a different perspective on life," He added.
"Outside of fencing, I'm a pretty simple guy. I like to play a lot of video games. I have three cats: Brutus, Cesar and Spooky," Skeete said.
A current sophomore fencer majoring in globalization and economics, Skeete took a year off to train for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Until COVID-19 hit. Then, right before the Olympics, he tore his Achilles.
While rehabbing an injury during the pandemic, and along with the help of two of his best friends, Ohio State fencers Hudson Santana and Jack Price, Skeete established his very own non-profit organization: the Kampri Foundation.
Skeete said, "We figured it would be easier and more impactful if we help the lives of the homeless people in the city that we live. So, we did. I just kind of googled it and did it. And here we are a couple years later."
He runs the show himself a majority of the time, paying for supplies out of his own pocket or speaking directly with donors, but collaborates with the other two to put on the events.
Every thanksgiving, they hand out turkeys to families who can't afford to purchase one. Some other services they have coordinated was buying pizza for a group of unhoused people in Miami, making homemade hand sanitizer when there was a shortage during the pandemic, buying and delivering cupcakes once a week, and purchasing masks and other necessary supplies for a local homeless encampment.
"We just try to get out with the community and make sure people don't ever feel forgotten" Skeete said.
He added, "One of the biggest problems we have as a society in general is that people feel invisible, and it is a really tough psychological battle to deal with, especially on top of financial hardships. We just want to say 'Hey, we recognize that you're here, and we're here to help."
"All that matters is that people in need get the help that they need," he concluded.
Skeete enrolled at Penn State for the 2021-22 fencing season and finished as an NCAA All-American as a freshman. He also participated in club boxing and taekwondo in order to aid with hip flexibility and decrease injury.
"I've worked very hard to make fencing an aspect of my personality, not my personality entirely. I think a lot of times, people forget that this is something that we do, this isn't who we are," Skeete said.
Heading into this season, his sophomore year, he tore his ACL.
As he will be rehabbing yet another injury for the next seven months, Skeete hopes to facilitate more events through his Kampri foundation and will eagerly await his next trip abroad. For individuals interested in finding out more about Kamar's work, you can follow him on Instagram at @lordkamar .
