NHS’s female debate captain, Kaija Snyder, has exceeded the expectations of her coaches and peers in her success as a woman in the debate world. In her senior year of high school, she is paving a path for future woman debaters by setting new standards.

Snyder has been involved in debate since her freshman year, when her journalism teacher helped her get involved. She was drawn to the idea of being able to argumentatively share her opinion and ideas while being a part of a community that shares similar values.

Similar to most sports, debate has issues. In her experience, Snyder found that some common issues include sexism and a bias toward women debaters. When asked where the problems sprout from, Snyder admits, “The national circuit is more lenient toward women debaters, so I find that the larger problems come from in state circuits.” As a woman in the debate world, she has had to deal with the constant favoritism of male debaters. Nonetheless, because of her capability to make herself stand out, Snyder bypassed the controversy and situated herself a chance at state all four years, whilst also qualifying for nationals the past three. Winning a majority of the competitions in which she has been involved, and earning a ballot in roughly 95 percent of her rounds, Snyder was able to move past some of the bias of being a woman in the debate world by focusing on doing her best, for herself and her team and by overlooking the concern of having a substandard judge.

Debate has helped Snyder with many things, including school and other activities. The principles of debate help her with researching for classes, writing essays, asking proper questions, public speaking and the general air of confidence. Snyder continues to succeed at debate and is competing at the national level. She hopes to use the skills she learns to continue debating in college and in her future career. Outside of debate, Snyder enjoys volunteering at the Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade and yelling loudly at NHS football games.