Students of SMC | Witemberd Joseph

“Students of SMC” is a video series meant to establish a personal relationship with individual students attending Santa Monica College meant to capture individual students' personalities through short videos and delve into their passions, ambitions, and lives. It’s easy to get caught up in the stressful life of a student and forget what’s going on in the world around us. But everyone has things to share that they are dealing with, pushing towards or growing from and it’s not always written on their face. This installment introduces us to Witemberd Joseph, a recent immigrant from Haiti that is currently playing for the SMC Men's soccer team. Joseph spoke of his past and how he had never played soccer until arriving in the United States. He talked about how he wanted to get involved in something on campus, and happened to fall into sports after his coach encouraged him to participate, saying, "My coach, he saw some good in me, and that's when I went, 'Hey, maybe I'm better than I thought.' So I started playing more and more, and playing good teams, and got better."

For Joseph, playing soccer was "love at first play." Joseph said that since he had begun playing soccer, he was determined to see it through, regardless of whether or not he finds fortune or glory. For Joseph, it's always been about having fun with the game.

Let us know what you think about this installment of "Students of SMC" in the comments section below.  Who else should we feature?