At 21, Ana Clara Castro, from the Joasi Club, was invested as a Pathfinder leader on February 15, 2025, during the Clubs Convention of the Central Minas Conference (AMC), in Belo Horizonte (MG). According to Notícias Adventistas, the official news agency of the Adventist Church, she is pointed to as the first Pathfinder leader with Down syndrome in South America.
Ana Clara's investiture took place at the largest Clubs Convention ever held by the field, which that Saturday invested 99 new leaders. "Being a Pathfinder leader was always my dream. I was always strong and brave," she said, according to the agency.
What happened in Belo Horizonte
On Saturday, February 15, 2025, the Central Minas Conference gathered leadership teams and clubs from its region for the investiture of new leaders. It was in this setting that Ana Clara Castro received her Pathfinder leader insignia, alongside dozens of others being invested.
According to Notícias Adventistas, the ceremony invested 99 new leaders in all, across the movement's three levels of leadership. The field described the gathering as the largest clubs convention in its history and the largest leadership graduation ever held in the region.
Among those present were Pastor Eduardo Acencio, president of the AMC, and Pastor Wagton Alves, the field's Pathfinder leader. The event's theme, according to the agency, centered on inclusion and commitment to the mission.
Who is Ana Clara Castro
Ana Clara Castro is 21 and a member of the Joasi Club, in Belo Horizonte. According to Notícias Adventistas, she is pointed to as the first Pathfinder leader with Down syndrome in South America — a milestone the official agency highlighted in its coverage of the convention.
Ana Clara herself summed up the meaning of that day in a phrase the report recorded: "Being a Pathfinder leader was always my dream. I was always strong and brave." The achievement, as the club's leadership reads it, is also a sign that the movement can be a space for everyone.
To give context its scale, Notícias Adventistas recalled that about 300,000 Brazilians live with Down syndrome, according to data cited from the IBGE. Stories like Ana Clara's help show that full participation in the life of a club is possible when there is welcome and support.
What it means to be a Pathfinder leader
It is worth explaining what lies behind the word "leader." Pathfinder Clubs are a movement of the Adventist Church aimed at boys and girls aged 10 to 15, with nature activities, honors, Bible study and team life. Those who guide this work are the leaders — and reaching that post requires a path of its own.
After the age of 15, a Pathfinder can begin the leadership classes, a training sequence that prepares one to guide units and take on responsibilities in the club. Completing that stage is recognized in an investiture, the official ceremony in which the person receives the insignia and formally joins the body of leaders.
The Central Minas Conference is one of the Adventist Church's administrative fields — the regional body that coordinates the clubs of an area. In this case, the AMC is responsible for part of the state of Minas Gerais and is linked to the South American Division (SAD), the headquarters that organizes Adventist work, and that of the Pathfinders, in eight South American countries. That is why the milestone Ana Clara reached is read on a continental scale.
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For the Joasi Club's leadership, Ana Clara's journey changed the community itself. Director Guilherme Gama called her an "inspiration to all of us" and said, according to Notícias Adventistas, that her dedication made the club a more inclusive space.
Her family played a decisive role along the way. Ana Clara's mother, Eliane Castro, stressed to the agency that the support of family and community made all the difference in her daughter's achievements — a reminder that inclusion is built as a network, among home, church and club.
On the field's side, Pastor Wagton Alves, the AMC's Pathfinder leader, underscored the significance of the graduation. "Each leader trained here today not only completes a course, but takes on a mission to inspire and guide the next generations," he said, as recorded by the official report.
The field's largest leaders convention
Ana Clara's investiture was not an isolated event. It was part of a ceremony that, according to Notícias Adventistas, marked the largest leadership graduation ever held by the Central Minas Conference, with 99 new leaders recognized at once.
That total is spread across the three tiers of leadership in the Pathfinders: there were 77 Leaders, 18 Master Leaders and 4 Advanced Master Leaders, according to the agency. Each level represents one more stage of training and responsibility within the movement.
Numbers like these help explain the strength of the volunteering behind the clubs: most of the leadership that sustains the weekly activities is made up of young people and adults who went through this same trail of classes and ceremonies.
Why this story matters
The reach of the news goes beyond a name. In pointing to Ana Clara as the first Pathfinder leader with Down syndrome in South America, Notícias Adventistas spotlighted a debate the clubs have been facing in practice: how to open real space for people with disabilities, not just as participants, but as leaders.
The answer that emerges from the Joasi Club's case combines three ingredients that appear repeatedly in the official coverage: Ana Clara's own desire, the movement's training structure and a support network — family, church and leadership — willing to walk alongside her. None of the three, alone, would have been enough.
For families and clubs following this kind of story, the message is concrete: the Pathfinders' leadership trail has clear rules, but it need not be a closed path. With welcome and persistence, the dream Ana Clara described can also be that of many others.