Snider always had a passion for sports

COSHOCTON – Sports has always been a part of Stephanie Snider’s life. The 1997 Coshocton High School graduate was a junior high girls’ basketball coach at Coshocton for seven seasons and still enjoys coaching youth basketball.

“I was asked to be a coach, but I was very nervous about it, but I’m so glad I did it because it is one of the most wonderful experiences of my life,” said Snider. “I loved coaching those junior high girls. I think I thrived when coaching the fundamentals of the game and I loved introducing sports to everyone. I think part of that is helping them develop new skills. It’s very rewarding because you can see the growth in your players.”

She said she also enjoyed that time because she was able to coach with help from her dad who is a former Coshocton basketball player.

“It was wonderful working alongside him,” she said. “We had so much fun and won a lot of games. All of my athletes are grown women now and have families of their own. I still see them around the community.”

Even as a young girl, Snider, her twin sister Stacie, and younger brother Scott, always went to games whether they were high school, college, or professional. She and her husband Jon, an eighth grade teacher at Coshocton Junior High, are now passing down their love of sports to their son, William, who is in first grade at Coshocton Elementary.

“We were a sports family,” she said. “It was just a part of our lives. I can’t imagine growing up without it. It was just who we were. Now I’m passing that along to my family. I’m so thankful my parents exposed me to that at a young age. You can learn so much from being part of a team. As a team, you can learn things about yourself and also how to interact with others.”

Not only is Stephanie passionate about sports, but education and the love of reading and learning is important to her as well.

“I think it’s the foundation of everything in life,” she said about education. “It’s the ticket to everywhere you want to go in life. Once you have that ability to read, it takes you down other avenues in life. It affords you opportunities you may not have had otherwise.”

Stephanie is a fifth grade language arts teacher at Coshocton Elementary School and enjoys taking her students to colleges where they can learn about how to fulfill their dreams.

“I know some people think fifth graders are a little too young to go to college visits, but I think it’s great to know what’s available to them out there, even at a young age,” she said. “Most students know they would like to be a football player or a dentist, but I think it’s important to show them different paths of how to achieve their dreams.”

After high school graduation, Stephanie earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at West Virginia Wesleyan College. In 2001, she received a position as a tutor for elementary and junior high students in the Coshocton School District. The following year, she accepted a position teaching kindergarten at Lincoln Elementary.  She completed her master’s degree in teacher leadership from Muskingum University in 2007. She has served as a member of the District Leadership Team and Building Leadership Team at Coshocton Elementary and was honored as the 2018 Muskingum Valley ESC Exemplary Educator for Coshocton City Schools.

“I was floored,” she said about the award. “It was an amazing honor. It was wonderful to be recognized. I just know we as a staff work so hard for our students here and I really appreciate them thinking of me.”

Stephanie was inspired to become a teacher by two important women in her life.

“My mom taught at River View for over 30 years,” she said. “She was my number one inspiration with working with young people. I also had a second grade teacher I wanted to model after. She was always very kind.”

Stephanie also has a heart for giving back to the community that was fostered by her parents. When she was young, she and her siblings were involved in community activities and participated in various clubs in high school. She said she always looked forward to the community service projects with the Key Club.

“I really wanted to be part of the Key Club when I got into high school because they worked with the Kiwanis Club and my dad was a member,” she said. “My friends and I were very passionate about it. We would have car washes together and we wrote skits that we would perform at the school about bullying prevention. We had fun just being together and having the opportunity to go into the different schools.”

Stephanie said she always knew she wanted to raise her family in Coshocton because of all the opportunities here.

“I liked growing up here and all the opportunities I had,” she said. “I knew I wanted to raise my family here. I really think it’s the relationships you can build with people here. I still go to the same eye doctor I went to when I was a kid and my son goes to my former pediatrician. I like giving back to the community that gave me so many opportunities.”

Stephanie said the community and her parents have helped to shape her character.

“I’m very grateful to the community because they helped shape me into who I am today and for my parents for their love and support,” she said. “They’ve shaped who I am. Because of their love and support, I was able to get a great education and give back to the community. They mean everything to me.”

Category: Business