Region VII Spring Article

The 2020/21 School year for Texas High School Rodeo Contestants is drawing to an end. The next three months the senior class will be sorting through what they want to do with their life after high school and where they want the next chapter of life to lead them. These decisions are for some, scary, confusing and for some easy. All in all they are setting a whole new turn of events in motion. One decision may be picking which college to attend. Another decision that may be weighing heavy on their mind is about rodeoing while attending college.

In Texas we have a huge variety of colleges to choose from. If you are looking for that small campus to make the transition from high school to college there is several junior colleges to pick from. For the student who is looking for a college offering a certain career choice there are several universities with masters programs for that career minded Cowboy or Cowgirl. Both choices offer outstanding rodeo programs to help the THSRA contestants bloom into professional level athletes or help them financially pay for college.

The SouthWest Region which consist of seventeen rodeo teams. 5 being universities and 12 being junior colleges. The current top three men’s and women’s team in the SouthWest Region standings: Top three men’s team 1.Clarendon College 2.Sul Ross State University 3.Tarleton State University. Top three women’s team 1.South Plains College 2. Weatherford College 3.Texas Tech University-Lubbock

This region map has rodeos from Alpine, Texas, Portales, NM to Gainesville, TX. The longest haul in this region is 524 miles apart. Making that an seven to eight hour haul.

The Southern Region currently consists of 11 rodeo teams, 5 universities and 6 junior colleges. The current top three men’s and women’s teams are Top three Men’s team 1.Panola College 2.Hill College 3.Sam Houston State University Top three Women’s team 1.McNeese State University 2.Sam Houston State University 3.Texas A&M University - Commerce

This region map has rodeos from Uvalde, TX , Mount Pleasant, TX to Lake Charles, LA making the longest haul 473 miles apart in this region. This region you may be traveling five to seven hours to a college rodeo.

When I asked past Texas Champion AA Cowgirl Paige Dawson; What did Texas High School rodeo do for you? She replied very quickly “Being apart of Texas High School Rodeo was the best decision I ever made. It helped me develop the skills I needed to go into college! It helped me learn to juggle school and rodeo, to strive to keep good grades while rodeoing.”

Did THSRA help prepare you for life away from home? “It gave me all the skills to be able to go out on my own and succeed and handle everything that was thrown at me! Not to mention the tough competition in THSRA really helped prepare me for the tough competition in college rodeo!”

Paige attended Ulvalde in the Southern Region for two years after high school and is now in the South West Region attending Tarleton State University in Stephenville,Texas for a Bachelors of Agribusiness.

The choices of Texas colleges can take you across this vast State. There are new adventures to have and friends to meet. One thing these schools all have in common is Texas pride. So whether you’re going to be giving everybody a big “GigEm” or “Guns Up” the path that helped you get there was through THSRA. “For we are God‘s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10