This year is flying by and I am finding myself almost finished with another semester almost done and enjoying the spring weather! I had the opporunity to travel to Winner, SD (my hometown) to do some school visits, speak at a PEO meeting and get started on my scrapbook for the Miss Rodeo America scrapbook contest.

I was able to visit Pre-K through 4th grade at Winner Elementary school and it was quite fun and interesting! I did this in a two day span and I had so much fun presenting my coloring book to the children. They loved it and I heard many stories about them sharing the jokes with their family and friends. It is cool that they love the coloring book that I have made for my school visits this year! Being in the same elementary school that I attended was fun and I was able to visit with teachers and coaches that I had growing up. Children say the funniest things sometimes and I had some students really crack me up! I was told by a little boy that I remind him of Sandy off SpongeBob Squarepants, I was asked why my pants were so high and I was told that I was not real by one student and the student next to him said that I was definitely real because I was talking! Children are always fun and school visits are always on the top of my list of fun things a rodeo queen gets to do!

When I was in Winner, I also spoke at a PEO meeting. It is fun to speak at these things because being a rodeo queen and rodeo is new to some people and they ask fantastic questions and it is fun for me to be able to share my passion of rodeo and representing it!

I had the opportunity to speak at a 4-H club in Rapid City this month. I got involved with
4-H at the age of 8 and loved every second of it. 4-H had such a positive impact on my life and it was such a great opportunity and experience to speark with young 4-Hers about what 4-H can bring to your life and how much it has to offer. I encouraged each and every one of them to stay involved and take advantage of all the wonderful activites, events and experiences that can be gained through 4-H.

God Bless and See Ya at the Rodeos,
McKenzie

This amazing title of Miss Rodeo South Dakota has taken me to a great visit in Kissimmee, Florida. WOW, is my definition of my experience in Florida. The 18 rodeo queens, including myself, were given the opportunity to experience Florida, participate in an excellent rodeo and try new things! I had the opportunity to watch the Silver Spurs pageant and I must say the young ladies who competed were very impressive and they should all be proud of themselves! It was an honor to watch them.
During the week we visited many schools and talked to the students about rodeo, the events and the Silver Spurs Rodeo that they could attend. All of the rodeo queens who attended these visits really had fun as we demonstrated the events and even took turns being the roping steer! We made fantastic cattle!! We were taken on two really excited hog hunts! The first one was with huge, 12 feet tall swamp buggies. We did not see any hogs but saw some deer, an armadillo, some cattle and a raccoon. It was quite exciting! The second hog hunt was an exciting, fun and quite hilarious all night hunt. We did not get back to our host homes until 8 AM, but it was very fun, interesting and something us girls will never forget! I will have to take more trips to Florida so I can see these famous "invisible" hogs!
Trying new foods is something that I love to do and I was able to try alligator! It was really good and if given the chance, I would eat it again! Some of the other girls ate frog legs, turtle and catfish for the first time! We were also blessed with a trip to the ocean. It was my second time to the ocean and I must say that it was fantastic. A few of us were brave enough to actually get into the cold water and I was happy to come back to South Dakota with a tan!
The Silver Spurs Rodeo is the biggest rodeo east of the Mississippi and it was very fun to participate and see a Florida rodeo! In the opening, all of the state queens were able to carry their state flag and I was a very proud South Dakotan carrying our beautiful flag! I met so many people from all over the world and it was fun to explain and answer questions about rodeo and the livestock to rodeo first-timers.
During the Special Kids Rodeo, I was partnered up with Mallory Lewis and her wonderful parents offered to take some of the girls to Disney World. We were so very blessed to meet this beautiful family and had a fun time running and skipping through Disney World! It was a treat and a perfect ending to a memorable trip!
A huge thank you goes to Laura and Mark Kessler for having me and for such a GREAT time and wonderful experiences. I will never forget my time in Kissimmee. I also want to thank the Roberts family for housing me! You were all so welcoming and I appreciate everything you did!

God Bless and see ya at the Rodeo!
McKenzie