Emilie Thibeault started twirling when she was 7 years old.

A Pequea Valley alumna, Thibeault got into the sport the same way that many of her peers did - having a mother who twirled.

"Before I started twirling, I danced from when I was 2 until I was 7," she said. "I liked dancing so much that (my mother) just kind of brought (twirling) up, and I took to it since then and never stopped."

Since that point, Thibeault has gone to many places and accomplished great things with a baton in her hand. She was a twirling trailblazer of sorts at Lebanon Valley College, where she recently earned a master's degree in speech pathology and had the opportunity to represent her country in the "Olympics" of baton.

Ever since she started twirling, training under Wendy Rhoads at Ab-Salute Twirling in Brownstown, she has competed in regional and national competitions in the sport, as well as twirling as part of the Pequea Valley High School marching band.

None of the many medals earned in those youth competitions compare to what she accomplished at the 2025 International Baton Twirling Federation (IBTF) Nations Cup, where she won a gold medal in the "three baton" category.

Thibeault stated that her goal was only to qualify for the multi-week competition, held last year in Torino, Italy. Not only did she walk away with a gold medal, but she also placed within the top 10 in the solo category.

"It was a really big honor for me to represent the USA," she said. "I just love being able to represent my country and being able to go there and compete with friends and meet people from other countries. It was just an amazing, amazing experience."

When choosing a postsecondary institution, Thibeault was looking more on the educational side of things. There are a handful of schools in Pennsylvania that offer speech pathology programs, but most institutions only offer a four-year program with a further two years of education required for a master's degree.

Lebanon Valley College offers an accelerated, five-year program that allows students to earn their master's degree all in one place. With her credits from high school, Thibeault completed the five-year program in four trips around the sun.

She did, however, make sure that twirling was a possibility.

"I also talked to Dr. Heffner, who is the marching band director there, about twirling," she said. "He was very open to having a feature twirler, as well as other twirlers down the line. ... So that was a really good selling point for LVC, as well."

In her time in Annville, she not only twirled but also started her own twirling club.

"My sophomore year, I had run into some friends and some new people who were talking about the fact that I was twirling with the marching band," she said. "They were all interested in learning some of the basic skills, so we started a twirling club."

The club held twirler days for local kids and also developed a whole majorette line for the school's marching band, "The Pride of the Valley." By the time she graduated, the majorette line had four twirlers, all of whom were coached by Thibeault in the twirling club.

She also now coaches at Ab-Salute, the same studio where she grew up. Working at WellSpan Health in York, she's routinely heading up to Annville and Brownstown to coach young twirlers at her alma mater and her home studio.

Thibeault retired from active competition after the Nations Cup in 2025, but coaching helps her remain active in the sport she grew up with.

"I love twirling, and I really just want to see it grow and see more twirlers out on the field and really see the sport I grew up with continue to grow," she said. "Twirling is a huge part of my life, so I'm really glad that I get to keep being a part of it, even if I'm not doing it."

She highly recommended Ab-Salute Twirling for anybody looking to get involved with the sport.

"I learned a lot from twirling and the dedication that you put into it," she said. "I grew up with basically another family in that world."