Portland Teens Find Purpose Through PATHfinder Club

A Secret Chord: Poetry, Stories & Art by The PATHfinder & POPS Clubs

Photo courtesy of the PATHfinder Network

Just four years ago, Portland’s gem of a nonprofit, The Pathfinder Network, brought The PATHfinder Club (TPC) to the teens of Portland with the first TPC at Parkrose High. Since then, the clubs have expanded to other venues, in large measure thanks to unending support from the Parkrose school district and from Superintendent Michael Lopes-Serrae to Principal Molly Ouche and Vice Principal Kenny Keys. Dozens of Portland’s young people whose lives have been impacted by deportation, detention or incarceration, meet each week and engage in conversation, community making and creative expression, and each year they release a book. 

Their latest is A Secret Chord, and with it once again the kids’ depth of understanding and experience reveal why TPC matters. Stigma too often silences young people, but the youth of TPC are encouraged to share their truths; it should be no surprise, then, that last year’s release, Home and Away, has just been named a finalist in the 38th annual IBPA Book Award program in the Middle Grade/Young Adult: Nonfiction category; and that honor followed their previous release, Advice to Ninth Graders, receiving the IPBA Peacemaker Award.

But books and awards are not the only way these young people display their talent and hard work. They’re also making Portland a better place. In 2025-26, TPC members at Parkrose High partnered with Historic Parkrose and Bloomsday Natives to reimagine the triangle intersection at NE Sandy Boulevard and NE Killingsworth Street—home of the Portland Immigrant Statue. 

Bloomsday Natives and Historic Parkrose visited TPC to discuss with the students what makes a community space feel like home, and in collaboration, they sketched concepts for a design to enhance the triangle. Earlier this year, Phase 1 of a Community Placemaking Project kicked off with a six-day workshop during which TPC club members learned basic construction skills and using hand tools and power saws, under the guidance of C-Mo, Matt and Rachel from Bloomsday Natives, built from scratch three beautiful benches that they will help to install later this fall at the triangle.

The Pathfinder Network invites the community to join them in celebration on Thursday, May 28 at Parkrose High School Library from 5 to 6:30 p.m. where they will officially launch A Secret Chord. Here community members will have an opportunity to meet some of the writers and artists.

In the book’s introduction, a club volunteer, Diana Ruzova, writes, teens “need a secret chord they can play to summon their creativity and connect with others.” The PATHfinder Club meetings provide that chord, playing to these aspiring artists, thinkers, and doers, instilling in them motivation for life and art, and helping to forge connections.

For those unable to attend the event, TPC welcomes your questions and invites you to purchase a copy of the book at Out of the Woods Press.