FORT RILEY, Kan. -- Ware Elementary School students learned about roping, racing and riding Jan. 26 when four members of the Kansas State University's Rodeo Club traveled to the school to do a presentation about the rodeo.
The presentation was in honor of Kansas Day.
"It was a way of promoting the history of Kansas to kids at Ware," said Valarie Lamoreaux-Reist, Family support coordinator at the school. "Since a lot of the kids are not from Kansas, we wanted to show them a little bit of the history and heritage of Kansas. Rodeo has a history in Kansas and continues to be a part of Kansas culture."
K-State Rodeo Club members Julia Kaufman, executive board president and K-State Rodeo Team member, Julia Milligan, executive board social chair, Trenton Heinen and Isaac Spear talked to the students about the history of the rodeo, as well as different competitive events featured at rodeos, including bareback bronco riding, breakaway roping, team roping, barrel racing, saddle bronco riding, steer wrestling, pole bending and calf roping.
Spear of Littleton, Colo., 19, and a sophomore in biological systems engineering, told students rodeos started with ranch hands demonstrating skills they were really good at on the ranch.
"It started a long time ago and went from becoming a way of life to a sport," he said.
He also talked to the students about his specialty -- bareback bronco riding -- which he said he has been doing since he was about 7 years old.
Kaufman of Fairway, Kan., and a senior in elementary education, talked about barrel racing, which she actively competes in, as well as breakaway roping.
"I think (the rodeo is) a great sport and a great community to be a part of, and it really teaches (those who are involved) responsibility, having to care for livestock," she said.
Milligan of Prince Frederick, Md., said in addition to participating in some rodeo events, she competes in English jumping.
She also said she hoped by talking to the students about the rodeo, they would gain a better understanding about the sport.
"(I hope) that they gain knowledge about kind of a different sport other than the ones they learn in school," she said. "They hear about baseball, football (and) soccer all the time, but you know, the rodeo is really a great outlet … and, especially, I know with it being military Families, while they are in Kansas, there's rodeos everywhere, all the time. I am from Maryland actually, so rodeo on the east coast is nowhere near as big as it is in the midwest and the south."
Heinen, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, and a first-time rodeo club member said he hoped by educating people about the rodeo, they would understand the sportsmanship involved.
"The more we can teach people about it, the less they think that it's bad," he said. "I know a lot of people think that rodeo is a harmful sport, (and), that we hurt animals, but really we're not."
In addition to the presentation, rodeo club members kept students engaged by calling on them to answer questions about the rodeo. Each correct question answered earned the students who answered the question a piece of candy.
Raven DuPree, a first-grader is Allison Schoen's class, was one of the students who correctly answered a question. DuPree said she enjoyed seeing rodeo club members demonstrate how to rope a cow, while Ethan Ammons, also a student in Schoen's class, said he liked when they talked about catching a sheep and tying its feet together.
"I learned that they used the rope on animals, even bison," said George Thomas, a second-grader in Amy Leturgez' class, while Thomas' classmate, Gabriella Rivera, said her favorite part of the presentation was learning about all the different rodeo events.
"It was a good assembly," Rivera said.
According to Kaufman, the K-State Rodeo Club is a tight-knit group consisting of more than 45 members, with about 15 of those members on the rodeo team. The team belongs to the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association and competes in the Central Plains Region.
Upcoming event
The 56th annual K-State Rodeo Collegiate Rodeo will be Feb. 17 to 19 at Weber Arena at the K-State campus. The rodeo will kick off with Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17; Kid's Day at 1 p.m. Feb. 18, with the rodeo at 7:30 p.m.; and Military Appreciation Day and the rodeo finals at 1 p.m. Feb. 19.
Tickets will be on sale at the K-State Championship Bull Riding event Jan. 27 at Weber Arena and the following ticket outlets Feb. 1: Varney's in Aggieville; the K-State Student Union; RB Outpost ; Ampride, Manhattan; Tractor Supply, Manhattan; Orscheln's in Manhattan and Junction City; Vanderbilt's, Wamego; and Roy Frey Western Wear, Topeka.
Rodeo tickets also are available at Fort Riley's Leisure Travel Center beginning Feb. 1, which includes 1,500 free tickets for "Military Appreciation Day" Feb 19.
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