Before Christopher Snyder became a teacher, he use to be a lifeguard instructor for 11 years. Although he was a lifeguard and a swimmer, he began to develop a fear of drowning due to having a lot of knowledge about it and playing the victim.

“I think that’s kind of my biggest fear of that way and it’s because I was a lifeguard for eleven years So I know so much about it and I had to play the victim because I was a life guard instructor,” Said Snyder.

Eventually he decided that instead of swimming, he wanted to become a teacher and guide students toward success.

Snyder’s inspiration is his mother and his previous coaches. He was one of four siblings and his mother sacrificed a lot for them, so he is very grateful for her. He had several coaches growing up that provided him the right direction to become successful in life.

When it comes to assessing his students, Snyder tries to get to know his students as people. He believes getting to know them individually helps to better understand the student’s ability of learning.

“I mean yeah we can always teach math and so, math tests and quizzes are going to be math tests and quizzes but it’s more trying to get to know them,” Synder said. “Each person has a different personality, each person has a different button that needs to be pushed each person has something different that makes them tick or different interests.”

Snyder’s students also acknowledge how much he understands and cares for them.

“He’s real and he’s easygoing,” Vincent Michelbach (‘22) said

Other students agree with Michelbach.

“I like how straight up he is because I don’t like when people sugar coat the truth,” Karol Gonzalez (‘22) said.

This year, Snyder hopes to go about the year as positive as possible. To have a great mindset and to ensure a great year.

Snyder believes that in order to understand and succeed, you must first come about failure. Learning from failure and developing a sense of Wisdom is greater than any victories one achieves.

“If you look at failures or mistakes as a opportunity to learn, sometimes that wisdom is much greater than any victories you might have,” he said. “Cause if you made a mistake and fail, you more likely to try to figure out why and learn from it and make sure it never happens again.”