Two teams from the North Pacific Union Conference received first-place trophies in the freestyle drill team competition at the Chosen International Pathfinder Camporee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. One team was from the Greater Seattle Filipino-American (Fil-Am) Church in Washington Conference. The second (pictured here) was a combined drill team, dubbed "Fort Pleasant Valley View," representing the Fort Vancouver (Washington), Pleasant Valley (Happy Valley, Oregon) and Valley View (Medford, Oregon) Pathfinder clubs of Oregon Conference.
That team's idea to partner began in May, when the Pleasant Valley and Valley View teams took top drill honors at the Oregon Conference Pathfinder Fair. The Fort Vancouver drill team had grown too small to compete effectively. "I was really missing being able to drill," explains team member Rachel Swanston, a Fort Vancouver Pathfinder.
Her fellow Pathfinders rallied to create the combined team, despite living as much as six hours away from each other. They held their first practice when they landed in Wisconsin and still managed to execute an elaborate routine for the competition. "Winning is fun and all, but doing it with friends from all over the conference makes this really special," says Caeden Rogers, a team member from the Pleasant Valley Pathfinder Club.
Valley View Pathfinder Shamar Sanker agrees. "I loved the experience of working with other clubs and just getting out there to show what we came here to do," he says, "not just for us but for the Lord."
Laurel Rogers, Gleaner copy editor