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Griswold head volleyball coach Chelsa
Hopper poses on Oct. 15, 2021, with
her varsity team in an Oregon Army
National Guard helicopter that landed
on the school fi eld. Hopper is a mem-
ber of the unit based out of Pendleton.
B1
Mountaineers
look to end
losing streak in
matchup with
MSU-Northern
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
ONE COOL JOB
Griswold volleyball
coach works with
helicopters in Army
National Guard
See EOU, Page B2
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
HELIX — The whole “my job
is cooler than your job” ends with
Griswold High School volleyball
coach Chelsa Hopper.
The 2013 Pendleton High
School graduate is in her second
year of coaching the Grizzlies,
but her day job for the past eight
years has been with the U.S. Army
National Guard.
Sgt. Hopper, 27, is a fl ight oper-
ations specialist — FOS — with
a helicopter crew based out of
Pendleton. She helps with mission
planning and giving coordinates
when the helicopter is in the air.
“I wish my job was on the heli-
copter,” Hopper said. “I joined
with the intent on being a pilot.”
After filling out reams of
paperwork, Hopper and a fl ight
crew on Oct. 15 fl ew a CH-47F
Chinook helicopter to Helix for
the entire school and community
to enjoy. The volleyball team also
had team pictures taken with the
helicopter, which has a special
connection to the community.
The fl ight from Pendleton to
Helix is just under 10 minutes.
Staff Sgt. James McKnight,
a fl ight engineer, is a 2006 Gris-
wold graduate. He has the option
of giving the helicopter a special
f lair, which he did with the
school’s mascot on the front of the
helicopter, and the word Grizzly
with two bears paws on the back
ramp.
Also from Helix is Chief
Warrant Offi cer 3 Ray Talking-
ton, an instructor pilot and a 1999
graduate.
“We talked about getting it
here last year, but it didn’t work
out,” Hopper said of the Chinook,
which can seat 33 people with seat
belts. “Then we decided to bring
it here and let everyone enjoy it.
It’s pretty cool to have your team
mascot on the side of a helicopter.”
School students from kinder-
garten through high school were
ON THE SLATE
Saturday, Oct. 23
Photos by Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Griswold High School volleyball coach Chelsa Hopper poses in front of the Chinook helicopter she sup-
ports as a member of the Oregon Army National Guard unit based out of Pendleton. Hopper and the heli-
copter crew visited Helix on Oct. 15, 2021.
able to get a close up view of the
Chinook, and take a tour inside.
They also got Army stickers and
lanyards.
Residents of the small farming
community also took in the sights.
When a town of 184 people gets
a Chinook helicopter land at the
school, it’s a community event.
“She was a student when I
worked in Pendleton,” Helix
Superintendent/Principal Brad
Bixler said. “It’s so exciting to see
her working with kids. With her
guard experience and coaching,
she is giving back to her commu-
nity. My dad was a pilot in the Air
Force and I always enjoyed being
at the fi eld. She put in a lot of
paperwork to get this here.”
Military in her veins
Hopper’s dad, 1st Sgt. Richard
Shaver with the Army National
Guard, was in the Guard when
she was growing up.
“I was always interested when
I was younger,” Hopper said.
“My junior and senior year in
high school, I was a little more
invested. They let me hang out
ilders
and go inside the Chinook. I was
hooked.”
Hopper joined the National
Guard her senior year in high
school, and participated in the
Recruit Sustainment Program one
weekend a month. The program
introduces new recruits to the
fundamentals of the U.S. Army
before they leave for basic train-
ing.
Right out of high school,
Hopper went to basic training at
Fort Jackson in Columbia, South
Carolina. From there, she did her
military occupational special-
ties training at Fort Rucker in
Alabama.
Hopper was deployed to
Kuwait and Iraq in 2015-16, and
spent 9 months in country.
“It was defi nitely hot there,”
she said. “It got up to 130 (degrees)
on a couple of occasions. You
sweat so much.”
Since she’s been back, she’s
had her sights set on becoming a
helicopter pilot.
“I have been dragging my feet,”
Hopper said. “I have been study-
ing. The school to fl y Chinooks is
a year and a half in Alabama. It’s
a lot of work to get there, but that
is my goal.”
Her husband, Darren Pahl,
who is an accountant, has mixed
feelings on the pilot program.
“We have talked about it a lot,”
Hopper said. “He hasn’t lived
anywhere but Oregon. He doesn’t
want to move to Alabama, but he
wants me to achieve my goals.”
There aren’t very many female
pilots in the military, regardless of
the branch, but that doesn’t deter
Hopper.
“I have been the only female at
schools I have been to,” she said.
“It’s not anything new. There are
more FOS than mechanics. We
just don’t have very many females
in the military.”
For now, Hopper gets her fi x
when the helicopter is going to
Salem to pick something up or on
a training fl ight.
“There is a jump seat between
the pilots, but I like sitting in the
back end and dangling my feet
as we fl y,” she said. “That is my
favorite place.”
College football
Eastern Oregon at MSU-Northern,
noon
Prep volleyball
Echo vs. Ione at Big Sky League tour-
nament, 10 a.m.
Hermiston at Walla Walla, 3 p.m.
BMC District tournament: Heppner
at Weston-McEwen, 4 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Stanfi eld/Echo at Nyssa, 11 a.m.
Umatilla at Four Rivers, 11 a.m.
Prep boys soccer
Umatilla at Four Rivers, 1 p.m.
Prep slowpitch softball
Hermiston at University, 11 a.m.
College volleyball
Multnomah at Eastern Oregon, 5 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 24
College men’s soccer
Walla Walla at Eastern Oregon, 4 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 25
Prep volleyball
Kamiakin at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
La Grande at Pendleton, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 26
Prep volleyball
Walla Walla Valley Academy at
McLoughlin, 7 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Irrigon at Stanfi eld/Echo, 4 p.m.
Hood River Valley at Pendleton,
4:30 p.m.
McLoughlin at Baker, 5 p.m.
MCC/GSL District Tournament:
Hermiston at Mead, 7 p.m
Prep boys soccer
Irrigon at Ukiah/Long Creek, 4 p.m.
Pendleton at Hood River Valley,
4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 27
Boys prep soccer
Baker at McLoughlin, 5 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 28
Prep volleyball
Hermiston at Richland, 5:30 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
Riverside at Umatilla, 4 p.m.
NEED
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LA GRANDE — Things have
taken a rough turn for the Eastern
Oregon University football team, but
this could be a bounce-back week for
the Mountaineers.
Coming off a bye week, Eastern
will be looking for a win against an
0-7 MSU-Northern team on the road.
While the Mountaineers have strug-
gled offensively
this year and stand
EOU
at 3-3, the team
will have a great
has lost
opportunity to get
3 games
back in rhythm in
a matchup with the
in a row
Lights on Saturday,
Oct. 23.
“The bye week was exactly what
the doctor ordered, getting some
guys healthy and getting back to
basics,” head coach Tim Camp said.
“We got work done and worked on
getting back to fundamental foot-
ball.”
Eastern has fl oundered in its last
three matches, dropping games to the
College of Idaho, Southern Oregon
and Rocky Mountain. The team’s
last win came on Sept. 18 against
Carroll College in a low-scoring 10-7
victory.
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