North Idaho Christian School: Yesenia Pilgrim’a journey out of foster care ends in adoption

After 10 years in foster care, a young teen found a forever family in the home of her best friend in school.

That is how Yesenia “Yesi” Pilgrim’s journey through the foster care system reached a happy ending. A student at North Idaho Christian School in Hayden, she became the officially adopted daughter of John and Tammy Pilgrim, of Post Falls.

A person of faith, it is not lost on her that their name is Pilgrim. And since she was 14, it’s been hers, too, making best friend Symone Pilgrim, her sister.

“I was so excited,” said Yesi Pilgrim, now 19, who has experienced the letdown of near-adoptions. She and her three birth siblings came from a struggling family and were put into foster care when she was 4. She has lived in numerous homes, attended 11 different schools, but, as she put it, “had a better experience in foster care than most,” mostly because she was able to remain with her birth siblings for a few years.

But it was not ideal. When she was 8 and in a home where she was being hurt, “I remember praying to God to move me from there.” It was not long afterward that that happened, she said, and she was placed with a good family in Athol, where there were a lot of horses.

And there began her passion for horses and rodeos.

Although she lived in different foster homes since then, it was that family that sought a Christian school for her to attend. She has been at North Idaho Christian now for six years.

It was through the foster care system that she met Gayle and Mike Stedman, the owners of Gem State Mule Co., who generously let her ride their infamous “grumpy old man” mule Blinkie in barrel racing events at rodeos.

“You can ride on whatever runs, and he is incredibly sure-footed and has greater endurance than horses,” said Pilgrim, who travels around the Northwest advocating for rodeo. She does so as rodeo royalty, being a rodeo queen who has competed at the Sandpoint Rodeo and Gem State Stampede and other regional rodeos.

She is also very active in school, where, as student council president, she works on building community and leads school projects. “I have a pretty outgoing personality and find it pretty easy to make friends.”

At school she plays volleyball and basketball, and, in fact, a college in Minnesota has expressed interest in her playing basketball for them. That’s too far away from home, she observed. She plans to attend North Idaho College this fall and hopes to become a social worker and eventually own an equine therapy facility.

“I would like to be able to help kids with similar backgrounds,” Pilgrim said. “I think I know how to do that.”

She attends Freedom Fellowship in Coeur d’Alene and said her faith is most important to her. “I don’t think I’d be alive without it,” she stated. “I do know God will always protect you and provide you with the courage to accomplish your dreams.”