The name is Steeves Saint Morris. I'm a tall, good-looking young black man living in the city of Bolton, Connecticut. I'm originally from the Island Nation of Haiti and I'm finding America to be quite a thrill and a challenge. However, it's a challenge which I am happy to brave. My parents, Notre Dame University of Haiti Mathematics professor Anne Claude Saint Morris and Petionville Police Chief Antoine Saint Morris want me to get educated and return home when I'm done. America is the land of my dreams. It's also full of dangers. That's alright because I come from a much more dangerous place. I'm twenty years old and I am currently studying Criminology, in preparation for a career in law enforcement. Being a cop is what I always wanted to do.
These days, I'm a student at the Central Connecticut Institute of Technology or CCIT. It's a big school. Thirty thousand students, spread over five campuses. We have campuses in Andover, Ashford, Bethel, Beacon Falls and Bolton. The city of Bolton is the site of our largest campus, with over ten thousand students. Fortunately, it's a city for all seasons. It's also the site of the Central Connecticut Institute of Technology's Department of Athletics. I was quite impressed with the sheer number of sports they offered. I'm a big sports buff. Back in Haiti, I attended College Notre Dame Du Perpetuel Secours, an all-male private high school in the Roman Catholic tradition. They had a lot of sports programs. I played varsity soccer and absolutely loved it. I am forever grateful to the Brothers of Christian Instruction for creating Notre Dame. It helped me become the man I am today.
The Central Connecticut Institute of Technology's Department of Athletics currently offers Men's Intercollegiate Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Swimming, Wrestling. Outdoor Track, Volleyball, Indoor Track, Water Polo, Soccer, Squash, Rowing, Tennis, Golf, Gymnastics, Lacrosse, Ice Hockey, Football, Badminton, Rifle and Rugby. For female student-athletes, they offer Women's Intercollegiate Softball, Basketball, Cross Country, Swimming, Wrestling, Outdoor Track, Volleyball, Indoor Track, Golf, Tennis, Squash, Rugby, Water Polo, Ultimate Frisbee, Gymnastics, Ice Hockey, Rowing, Field Hockey, Rifle and Badminton. The Cheerleading Team is coed, as is the Equestrian team, with five females and four male riders. For club sports, they have Men's Cycling, Men's Archery, Women's Pistol, Men's Boxing, Men's Table Tennis, Men's Pistol, Women's Boxing and Men's Sumo Wrestling. All of the varsity sports teams are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division One. Central Connecticut Institute of Technology is one of the wealthiest schools in the country, with an annual endowment of three billion dollars.
I joined the Men's Varsity Soccer team as soon as I enrolled as a freshman at Central Connecticut Tech. Soccer is my all-time favorite sport. I've been in love with it ever since I could remember. Most Haitians, both male and female, have a deep love of Soccer. For us, Soccer is more than a sport. It's a passion. Hell, it's almost a religion. The Americans could never understand this. Oh, well. Whatever. We played the University of Connecticut's Men's Varsity Soccer team at the beginning of the season. They played well but we kicked their butts. Hey, Central Connecticut Tech has one hell of a soccer player in me, you know? Yeah, we were quickly becoming legends on the New England Division One Athletics landscape. I wish more colleges offered men's soccer programs. They have plenty of women's soccer teams. It's a really beautiful sport and I know plenty of guys who prefer it to football and basketball. Oh, well. That's America for you. College sports aren't what they used to be. I just wish the various schools would stop slashing the men's sports teams. That's not fair.
Anyhow, I had other things to do rather than reminisce or focus on college sports politics. I never knew that College Soccer Players could become celebrities. Until I almost single-handedly defeated Hartford and was thrust into the spotlight. All of a sudden, everyone on my college campus knew my name. What can I say? I was fast becoming famous. I'm a tall, good-looking young black man. People are always looking at me. Sometimes, it's not a good thing. There are a lot of racists out there. They're men and women from every walk of life. They always look at the black man as a possible troublemaker. Never mind that there are black governors, black senators and black police chiefs in America today. Other times, the attention that I receive is kind of weird. I'm a young man with a healthy sexual attitude. I don't like to be considered a sexual object. Many women, especially white women, see the black man as a sexual conquistador. The dude with the big dick. I don't like to be thought of that way. At least not exclusively. Well, there's so much more to me than that. I'm a brilliant student. I'm a good athlete. I'm a church-going Christian. I'm a proud son of Haiti. I've got different dimensions to myself and refuse to be boxed into a small, neat little category. I'm a complex being.
Overnight I became the public face of the Central Connecticut Institute of Technology's Men's Soccer team. Usually, only college football and basketball players got that kind of fame. Well, little did I know that collegiate America was falling in love with me. They called me the College Sportsman with the Olympian's body and the Angelic face. Sounds good, doesn't it? My father Antoine always warned me not to let fame get to my head. So I handled myself coolly when I got hounded by the press and bugged constantly by classmates who didn't know I existed before. The hard part came after I wound up on the cover of Sports Illustrated. All of a sudden, I was shot to international fame. You see, college soccer isn't that big a deal in America but around the world, soccer is a popular sport. I soon found out that pictures of me were on the web. Also, someone made videos of me while I was at practice with my teammates. Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn't have played shirtless that day. Nevertheless, females across the country, along with quite a few men, went crazy for me. I must say that I kind of liked it.
Who wouldn't like to be famous and admired for what they do? I mean, I was an ordinary college freshman and I had fans! Hell, a month after the media frenzy began, I was approached by a producer from a television show. She offered me a role on a popular soap opera. I was stunned. I didn't watch soap operas but they were long-standing popular shows. I did it, and got myself an agent along the way. I played the role of a bad boy who was a new love interest for a sexy heroine on the popular television soap opera All My Children. If I thought playing college soccer made me famous, playing that part shot me to global fame. Before long, I was juggling both a college career and a budding acting career. I tried to make time for both, especially after I became a recurring character on the show. My life changed drastically. People I didn't know were approaching me on the street. Women especially. I was flattered, and a little bothered by it. I liked my privacy. Still, making thirty grand a month while attending college for free was nice. That's what the soap opera paid me. My character got killed off the following year but that didn't end the madness.
My agent got me to appear in a few television shows and later, quite a few commercials. I appeared in quite a lot of beer commercials. Yeah, I fit the profile of the American bad boy out drinking with his buddies at a bar full of sexy women. I took speech classes to get rid of my Haitian accent. My parents were proud of me for finding success in America. But I was desperately lonely. My teammates from the varsity soccer team didn't like the attention I received. They began to really hate my guts when I was named team captain my sophomore year. I was a celebrity on campus. And I often had to fend off amorous women. I had gone from college sports star to Hollywood newcomer within a year. How in hell did that happen?