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"Rodeo queen looks forward to beginning her reign" Huron Daily Plainsman
She was officially recognized on Jan. 7 at a special ceremony in the Corn Palace at Mitchell. Schaller, 23, is a 1999 graduate of Wessington Springs High School and received a degree in career and technical education with emphasis in agriculture education from South Dakota State University in May. She is working on her master’s degree in education at SDSU. Her goal is to become an agriculture teacher in rural South Dakota. Schaller is the daughter of Lorin and Beverly Schaller of rural Woonsocket. They live on a farm located four miles west of Woonsocket along Highway 34. She has three brothers, Ryan, who currently is serving in Iraq with the 153rd Engineer Battalion; Randy, a seventh grader at Wessington Springs; and Allen, in the kindergarten at Springs. Schaller currently maintains an apartment in Brookings as she pursues her master’s degree. She also does substitute teaching in Wessington Springs. She recently attended the National Western Stock Show in Denver as a rodeo queen. She also won the Miss Rodeo SDSU contest in 2003 while a student at the Brookings university. Although she has not competed in rodeos, she has taken part in horse shows and play days. She is a member of the Hitchcock Saddle Club and has participated in that group’s popular cancer ride. During the upcoming year, Schaller will participate in the PRCA rodeos in South Dakota and make various appearances at other events. On March 7, she will make a special trip to Wessington Springs to read to the elementary students and help with the awards program. During the second weekend in April, she will attend the Black Hills Horse Expo in Rapid City and will spend 10 days at the Black Hills Stock Show in Rapid from Jan. 27 through Feb. 6. She will ride in the rodeo, help with the children’s rodeo, assist with the queen contest and sign autographs at the Tri-State Livestock booth at the trade show. Schaller said her career for the year would be making appearances as Miss South Dakota Rodeo Queen. And, she will compete in the Miss Rodeo American Pageant in Las Vegas in December, which is held a week before the National Finals Rodeo. At the national competition, she will be vying for a $25,000 scholarship and many other prizes such as a saddle and complete wardrobe. For winning the South Dakota event, Schaller received a $1,000 scholarship and other prizes. She also is conducting a raffle for a saddle made by Zeb’s Saddle Shop in Rapid City. The saddle is on display at the Cenex station on the east edge of Woonsocket. The drawing for the saddle will take place at the SDRA Finals in Huron in October. When asked what advice she would give to other young girls who want to be a queen, she replied, “Just follow your heart.” “If you’re within the age requirements, go for it,” she said. “You definitely should try.” Schaller said she doesn’t have a background in rodeo. “Does that mean I shouldn’t compete for the rodeo queen title?” she asked. “I don’t think so.” When she won the South Dakota title, the first runner-up was Stephanie Miles of Spearfish. “I’ve always been interested in rodeo,” Schaller said. “I didn’t have the finances so I didn’t compete. This is my way of being involved.” She continued, “I always admired rodeo queens as I was growing up.” Her first attempt at a rodeo queen competition came in 2002 when she competed for the Corn Palace Stampede event in Mitchell. She didn’t win the title, but was named Miss Congeniality. Next came her win in the Miss Rodeo SDSU contest in 2003. Along with the saddle raffle, Schaller said she would conduct a number of other fund-raisers during the year to help with her travel expenses. |
