Student-athlete experience helps Middlebury alum bring soccer, film passions together

Two things give Jordan Saint-Louis a sensation he calls "flow," which he defines as a mix of focus and adrenaline. One is soccer. The other is digital storytelling. 

Saint-Louis applied to Middlebury without a plan to pursue either. 

Now he's doing both professionally, playing soccer in Portugal and serving as a brand strategist for Black Arrow, an organization focused on the intersection of soccer and Black culture. 

"Being able to combine both, it's like the best job you could want," Saint-Louis said. "All the information comes naturally, and it's not very hard to talk about it or find stories within it." 

Saint-Louis' experiences with Black Arrow include working with Naomi Girma and Crystal Dunn, notable members of the U.S. women's national team. The organization's storytelling efforts expand well beyond U.S. soccer, though, highlighting Black stories in soccer around the globe. 

The opportunity, which Saint-Louis came across through Instagram, has been more than he ever imagined. 

"It's like a fairy tale," he said. "Obviously using a new passion in film, art and storytelling to bring the two together, especially in a world where storytelling within sports is so much bigger now, and focusing on Black players specifically, Black fans, the Black community in soccer is really cool."

Middlebury, in so many ways, was the conduit to Saint-Louis' surreal soccer career. 

Burned out on playing the game in high school, he planned to attend Middlebury — from which his father and older sister graduated — as a student only. At the urging of his older sister, who knew Middlebury assistant coach Greg Conrad, Saint-Louis connected with the staff to get a feel for what the program was about. Both sides clicked immediately, and Saint-Louis joined the team, dramatically changing his experience at Middlebury. 

"I think it was huge. Middlebury is really special, and my experience was amazing," the 2023 Division III Scholar All-American said of his decision to play soccer. "A lot of the things I now value and see as parts of myself are things I developed at Middlebury, the arts being a big one. Things like Black Arrow, I found it while at Middlebury. Becoming passionate about street photography, I found that at Middlebury. People I met who have helped me to explore the passions or find other opportunities, it all happened at Middlebury. For that, I'm really thankful and grateful to have gone there." 

Saint-Louis got into the film world somewhat by accident. 

A native of the Washington, D.C., area, he and his friends started a clothing brand called Voici — French for "here is" — in 2020. They knew they needed to creatively promote the brand but couldn't afford to hire outside talent, so Saint-Louis volunteered to learn how to use a camera. This led to him entering and winning MiddChallenge, a campus competition that awards $4,000 grants to teams who best explain their inspiration and/or viability of their idea or business. Part of the grant money went toward a camera, launching Saint-Louis' interest into a full-on passion. 

"It's the only thing outside of playing soccer that gives me the same sort of sensation and positivity," he said. "It just makes me feel really good whenever I make a new video. It's the only thing that competes with playing soccer in terms of giving me that same feeling."

Saint-Louis developed his new talent in part through his connections as a student-athlete. What started as practicing with his camera at his team's media day turned into making videos for several Middlebury teams.   

"It worked well," he said. "I'd make the team videos and take photos at functions and bring my camera everywhere."

A film and media culture major, Saint-Louis also credits the flexibility of his coaches for helping him create one of his favorite projects: a remake of a 2013 music video about Middlebury. The video, which he co-created alongside his friend Malick Thiam last fall, served as Saint-Louis' thesis project. The two spent countless hours on it, collaborating with students on the lyrics, a professor on the song beats and many others to shoot the video. The whole process was hectic by itself, but adding a soccer schedule, including a run to the Division III NCAA quarterfinals, could've made it untenable. 

"I remember after the first round, I was telling my coach, 'I have to do a shoot like right after this game, so my time is very, very precious,' and he was super understanding," Saint-Louis said. "Stuff like that is more than I could have ever asked for." 

Looking back, Saint-Louis said developing a new passion at Middlebury has set him up for success in several ways. The "obvious one" he said is having a career he can use after he's done playing soccer to still stay close to the game. Another is more foundational to life, he said.

"It is important and not even from the perspective of soccer is not always going to be there, but in terms of realizing that there are other things you give to the world," he said. "It makes mistakes of playing a sport, especially professionally, feel a little less burdensome because there's something else you're good at, there's something else you can do in your free time, there's something else that other people see you as and value that part of you."