LJHSRA member, Kaysie Burgess
– Phifer
Kaysie Burgess
story by Ruth Nicolaus
If you were at the Louisiana State Junior High School Finals last month, hopefully you stumbled upon the best place to eat in Lake Charles: the Burgess camp.
Kaysie Burgess, who qualified for her third junior high state finals in May, helped her grandma and grandpa Sharon and Mike Skyrme cook barbecue, crawfish, potato salad, chicken salad, and a whole bunch more goodies that the Burgess family and their friends devoured each night at state finals.
And now Kaysie’s back home and hopefully, she’s back in her grandparents’ kitchen, preparing meals for the National Junior High Finals in Des Moines.
The 13 year old cowgirl, who lives in Shreveport, La., competes in every girls’ event. She heels for Jessica Neely and runs for Tyler McGuffee in the ribbon roping.
She graduated from eighth grade at Herndon Magnet School last month, and this summer will be helping with chores around her house and her grandparents’ house. She’s responsible for keeping the upstairs clean (her room, her bathroom and the game room), cleaning stalls, washing horses, and she often goes to her grandparents to help them with mowing, cooking and cleaning. Her favorite chore is washing horses; her least favorite chore is cleaning house.
Kaysie also likes to cook, and is an expert at steak, spaghetti, hamburgers, scrambled eggs, and more. She’s learned from the best cooks: her mom and grandma.
In middle school, Kaysie was a member of the National Junior Honor Society, was cheer captain, was a member of student council, and played the guitar. This fall, she’ll be a freshman at Northwood High School in Shreveport, and will attend the Falcon Academy of Medical Exploration.
She rides three horses for her events. Her favorite, Smoke, is her breakaway, heel and goat tying horse. The 13-year-old gray is fun to ride and really smooth, and when he hears the music at a rodeo, he gets antsy, Kaysie says.
For the pole bending, she rides a 15-year -old sorrel gelding named Cash, and for the barrels, a five year old chestnut named Toasty.
When she grows up, Kaysie would like to be a large animal veterinarian. She has an older brother, Cody, who team ropes, as does her dad. She is the daughter of Michele and Duke Burgess.
