BRUNSWICK, Maine — Even when he was sleeping on a cramped, foldable cot at Portland's Expo in March, teenager Jacob Samuel knew he wanted to play soccer in Maine.
"I want people to know my soccer," Samuel said, who is currently at Brunswick High School.
Samuel's journey started in Angola before he and his brother Phillipe, moved to Maine with their parents. His family stayed at the temporary shelter at the Porltand Expo.
With very little information about where his family would be housed, once the contract at the Expo expired, Samuel said he felt scared, like so many others.
"I had to move, I was at the hotel then and they told us we only had three months," Samuel said.
The hotel he referred to is the Ramada Inn in Lewiston, one of the two hotels the City of Portland housed people in after the Expo's contract expired.
Soccer, to Samuel and other asylee teens in Maine now, is a way of life according to Samuel's English and history teacher, Brian Banton.
"Each one of these students has a unique story and they are all remarkable stories," Banton said. "The ability to come to a place that is so different than where your story may have begun, is a big challenge."
Banton said his classroom is often filled with excitement as his students, including Samuel, name their favorite soccer matches and players.
"The need to feel a sense of belonging, it's foundational," Banton said.
And that belonging comes in the form of the Brunswick High School soccer program.
For Head Coach, Mark Roma, the addition of asylee teenagers to his program has uplifted the community.
"You just want them to do their best, you want them to learn everything they can to be successful," Roma said.
Learning the game with his students born and raised in the USA, combined with meeting new Maine teenagers and studying how they play the game from their home countries, creates a bond that betters the overall gameplay.
"They come from such a place of chaos and they come in and I think it does give them that oasis, all of that just vanishes and they can play a sport they love and make tremendous connections," Roma said.
Roma was passionate about the addition of asylee teens.
As the team walked onto the field for the final time of the season, Jacob also notes how this game helps him get by while managing an incomprehensible journey.
"I want people to know me for my soccer and I want people to know my story. While it may not work out, every day I have faith I can fulfill my dream," Samuel said.
While Samuel's future goal is to attend college in the United States and play soccer, he lives in the moment and has the support of his friends, like freshman teammate Matty Smith.
"Some people underestimate you because of where you come from or what people look like," Smith said. "Some people go out there and work hard to get where they are and that is also important."