story by Ruth Nicolaus
Samantha Schemper is a good athlete. Not only is she competent in the barrel racing, goat tying, pole bending, and ribbon roping, she’s a state champion pole vaulter and last year, as a seventh grade student, was a state champion gymnast.
Schemper, a member of the Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association, lives in Holdrege, Neb., and rides three different horses for her events.
Her pole horse, Bucky, is a buckskin with zebra stripes on his legs. Her goat horse, Peewee, is a sorrel, and she’s working on training a barrel horse, Lynda, a gray. Of her horses, Bucky is her favorite. “We have a good connection,” she said.
Last spring, she finished her eighth grade year at Holdrege Public School, where she participated in volleyball, basketball, track, and was on the honor roll.
This summer, she’s helping her mom, the technology director at the school, with the computers. She’s also been busy in the weight rooms in the mornings, conditioning for sports.
Samantha Schemper – Dawn Schemper
For fun, Samantha loves going to the Calamus Reservoir near Burwell, where she likes to fish and tube.
Samantha also knows her way around the kitchen. She’s glad to start the evening meal when her mom isn’t home yet, and she can make tater tot casserole, hamburger cheesy bake, and other delicious meals. She’s also a baker, with her specialty being cream cheese filled snickerdoodles, which are requested by her uncle and at every family gathering. Her favorite thing to make is peanut butter no-bake cookies.
The Schemper family vacation this summer was to the National Junior High School Finals in Tennessee, where Samantha competed in the ribbon roping. On the way, they visited Metropolis, Ill., the home of a fifteen foot statue of Super Man.
Samantha also competed at the 2016 National Junior High Finals in the pole bending.
Her favorite candy is Snickers; her favorite soda pop is Cherry Seven-Up; her favorite kind of music is pop, and her favorite restaurant is La Hacienda in downtown Holdrege.
In addition to her state gymnast championship last, Samantha finished third in the all-around at this year’s state meet.
She has an older sister, Sierra, who is fifteen, two younger sisters, Sabrina (12) and Sophia (nine) and a younger brother, Sawyer, who is five.
She is the daughter of Dawn and Jared Schemper.
