Castera Charles Survive and Thrive

I was born in Haiti, where life is a much different experience. I have many brothers and sisters, and we were about as poor as you could ever imagine being. Sick, malnourished, no understanding of the English language, and a problem I did not even know I had. I do not remember exactly how I became a child slave after I was in the streets of Port-au-Prince suffering. That all changed when I was bought for 60 U.S. dollars by the missionary and got adopted by the Mastropaolo family. Adapting to America was a struggle with habits, relationships, school, hearing loss, food, and weather. I was able to overcome all the situations once I started tackle football in 5th grade. I fell in love with the sport including fitness and it gave me a lot of purposes. Some people back at the all white hearing school and community in Ohio also did not think I would succeed because of my hearing loss and learning disability, but my adoptive family always had faith in me whether it was a positive or negative situation. I’ve learned how to do sign language. And I have found that some people in deaf community at Gallaudet a deaf and hard of hearing school in Washington DC, have been very supportive no matter what I am going through. It was yet another challenge because being a new signer means I have to catch up. Fortunately for me, I was able to use my major in St.Augustine, after graduating from Gallaudet in 2024. How I landed in St.Augustine was connections through family, friends, deaf community, diversity, weather and just being closer to Haiti. I used my Physical Education and Recreation major to coach at Florida School for the Deaf and Blind football team helping them win a championship. Currently I am coaching basketball at the YMCA while running a little personal training business on the side. My goal is to inspire people to survive and thrive by using my story of showing that anything can be overcome! I also plan on inspiring people through using sports and fitness to let them know that they do not have to sit in the corner feeling sorry for themselves, but have courage to open up about struggles.