Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth

and a new understanding of yourself or others.

As I backed into the box, I got my horse set and waited for my calf to be looking straight out of
the chute. I took a deep breath, nodded my head, and started swinging my rope. My rope
wrapped around my calves neck in a figure eight, I pulled up on my horses mouth and he slid to
a stop. The rope snapped off my saddle and the clock stopped at four and a half seconds. I would
have never guessed that it would be the last calf that I roped for my sophomore High School
Rodeo Season.

This spring will mark five years since the start of my breakaway roping career. It has been a
challenge for me because I never had someone there to teach me everything, I learned most of it
on my own. Breakaway roping has taught me many valuable life lessons. Those lessons include,
everything counts, working hard gets you to the top and you do not need the best things to be
successful.

In the fall of 2019, we had four high school rodeos and my roping was super sharp. I only missed
a few calves and ended up sixth in the average out of almost thirty girls. My plan was to practice
all winter and better my roping for the spring season of 2020. At least once a week my dad and I
went to Verndale, or a friends' indoor arena in Princeton, to condition my horse, and rope a few
calves. I was really determined to make it to the National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock
Springs, Wyoming. When I wasn’t roping off of my horse, I was roping a hay bale in the shed, in
the freezing cold. My dream was to make it to that rodeo in Wyoming.

When spring 2020 arrived and the Coronavirus became a big deal, the rodeo association was
debating whether or not we could have our five rodeos as planned. Normally the first one would
be the last weekend in April or the first week of May. About two weeks before the first of May,
we got the news that our normal season rodeos were cancelled and that there was still a
possibility of having a state finals. Knowing that kept my hopes up for a chance to be in that top
four that go to nationals. State finals were normally the second weekend in June. My mind was
thinking that finals were going to be cancelled but I tried to keep my head up and think
positively.

On the first of June my mom got the news from the High School Rodeo Association that
Minnesota was not having state finals, and the top four in each event would make it to Guthrie,
Oklahoma, instead of Wyoming. It moved because the governor of Wyoming felt it wasn’t safe
for everyone to be there. My brother was second in his event and would have made it to
Oklahoma. My parents let him decide if he wanted to go, or to stay home and work. Of course
he did not want to go. Meaning that our family was not going to Oklahoma for the National
Finals Rodeo.
In the summer of 2020, I entered in a few local rodeos and kept practicing and trying my hardest
to reach that goal. Currently I am sitting sixth in the state, and only missed one calf this fall. Our
rodeos will resume again in April or May depending on if we will get shut down again. So far
this winter I have been to Backus and Princeton to rope calves and I will be going to a few
jackpots. My main focus is to make it to that rodeo and if I don’t make it this year, I can try again
my senior year of 2022.