When asked who her hero might be, Mary Snipstead, after a little thought, responds, “William Wilberforce.”
Wilberforce, a British politician and activist, fought to end the slave trade.
“I think about him when I think things can’t be done or things will never change,” said Snipstead, a sophomore on the Glacier High School tennis team. “He made the impossible happen.”
Life might not hold the same “impossible” challenges for Snipstead, but one look at her accomplishments and it is easy to see why determination would define her hero. Besides the daily tennis grind there are piano and voice lessons, concert choir and the Echoes choir group, participating in the peer group SPAM, acting as vice president on the student council, national honors society, theater, and speech and debate, all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.
“I pretty much love everything I do,” said Snipstead. “It’s just crazy doing it all at once.”
Achieving superior rankings at the district music festival qualified Snipstead for state this year, but she has a tennis meet.
“You can’t have your hand in everything,” she said. “But whatever you’re in at the moment you have to give 100 percent.”
Snipstead said she wants to help speech and debate win state next year and she continues working on her tennis skills, hoping to qualify for state this season.
“Pretty much everything I do I can be creative,” she said. “I definitely think tennis is just as expressive. You get to let out a lot of your emotions.”