Afifa Zeeshan readily admits she was shy when she started attending Discovery Canyon Campus as a fourth grader; it was not the way she was previously described, and not at all what her personality is today.

“As a little girl, I was pretty spontaneous, but I became shy, I think, from moving here from California; it was a brand new school, a brand new environment, and I quieted down a lot. Once I got into speech and debate my parents recognized that I was back,” she said. That reticent child is now just a memory for Zeeshan and her family.

She said, “I was lucky enough to take a speech and debate class. The teacher was so much fun that I ended up joining the speech and debate club. My friend and I paired up for the 2×2 event, and we were so competitive together that we thought we’d never stop doing it.…