Senior Spotlight: Christian Toussaint, Penn State Scranton
Welcome to our Senior Spotlight series. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the PSUAC had to cancel its fall and winter sport seasons. This prevented several student-athletes from receiving a proper senior day and minimized opportunities for Player of the Week awards. In its place, we will highlight seniors from around the conference throughout the remainder of the semester.
See more Senior Spotlight highlights on our Twitter (@psuac) and Instagram (psuac)!
Name: Christian Toussaint
Campus: Scranton
Primary Sport: Men's Soccer
Primary Position(s): Midfielder/Striker
Hometown: Haiti
High School: Lycee Alexandre Dumas
Major: Biology
Academic Achievements: Dean's List
Athletic Achievements: 2018-2019 PSUAC Academic-All Conference
How did your Penn State education prepare you for life after graduation? It prepared me for life after graduation by seeing how to be a part of a network and making friends and more. It also helped me to be successful academically and professionally.
How do you hope to be remembered by teammates and coaches? I hope to be remembered as the passionate leader that I was by my teammates and coaches. I want them to keep up the work that we started so that we remain successful and that we keep loving to stay together as a team which is what is most important to me.
What is your favorite memory from playing your sport at Penn State? My favorite memory from playing soccer at Penn State was making the playoffs with my team for the first time in a decade. We were successful as a team and we were ready to take the challenge head-on.
What is the best advice you ever received from a coach or teammate that you would share with other student-athletes? The best advice I ever received from a coach was when my head coach told me to "Have fun". Yes, it sounds like it is obvious but it is very easy to get lost by being too competitive. I believe myself to be a fierce competitor and I hated losing but my coach taught me that losing is a part of life and that having fun makes it a lot more tolerable.
What are you most looking forward to post graduation? Or in your transition to University Park (or other campus) to finish your degree? I am looking forward to what life brings me after graduation and how my friends and I can handle it. We know that it won't be easy but we all know that we have each other's backs no matter what because that is the type of friendship we created at Penn State University.
What are some of the tools or skills that you learned through all the years of playing your sport that you plan to instill once you enter the workforce? I learned how to be a better leader by being a captain of the soccer team and I believe that it is something that will continue to be with me for the rest of my life.
What impact did athletics have on your experience as a college student? What is your favorite memory outside of athletics during your time as a student-athlete? Athletics had a huge impact on my time as a college student because when it wasn't about school, it was about athletics and that is either soccer or basketball. I learned about other sports as well like baseball, volleyball, tennis, badminton and a lot more. It made college life a lot easier and it did with making new friends and meeting people who have the same interest as you. My favorite memory outside of athletics during my time as a student-athlete would be the time that I would spend in the Gameroom or in the Cafe having fun and eating with friends.
lease use this space to thank anyone you wish to acknowledge for their support during your academic and athletic career. I would like to thank the assistant of our Athletic Director, Sara Rinkunas for making me such a big part of the staff over at the gym and assisting me with any help I needed. I would also like to thank Mar Tsakonas for making the job over there fun and helping me out. I would like to thank Coach Balt for entrusting me to lead his team and giving me all of the advice he did during our time together. I also want to thank assistant Coach Jesse for the time he spent with us and not only making us better players but also better men.