story by Ruth Nicolaus
Jaden Mathis has culminated her junior high school years.
Her days in the Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association have come to an end.
The Atkinson, Neb. cowgirl competes in the barrel racing, pole bending, breakaway roping, team roping (heeling for Jace Hurlburt) and ribbon roping (running for Tyson Stracke.)
For her events, she rides two horses. Brady, a sorrel, is her roping horse that was ridden by her older brother Tate, when he was in junior high. Marvin, her pole and barrel horse, is a gray that she borrows from Allison Stracke.
Jaden will be a freshman at West Holt High School this fall. The best part of school is the sports. She plays basketball and volleyball, is involved in FFA and is on the honor roll.
This summer, she had a job as a lifeguard at the Atkinson swimming pool. She also gave private swimming lessons, and loves being around kids, except for when they are naughty and she has to yell at them. That’s the worst part of the job, “because I don’t like to be mean.”
Jaden’s favorite food her mom makes is homemade pizza with plenty of meat on it, and the best dessert her mom makes is Oreo dessert. Her favorite candy is any kind of candy bar, especially Reese’s, and her favorite beverage is a Pepsi or Dr. Pepper.
The best trip she’s taken was to the National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyo., when her brother qualified. She loved watching the rodeo action and being with her friends.
If she had $1 million, she’d take her family on a vacation to the National Finals Rodeo.
For fun, Jaden loves to hang out with friends, shoot hoops and watch movies. Her favorite movie is Eight Seconds. She’s watched it more times than she can count; if the family is headed to a rodeo and they don’t have another movie to watch, they watch it.
When she grows up, she’d like to be a physical therapist. When her brother Talon tore his ACL, she went to physical therapy with him and enjoyed watching the process.
She has competed at the state finals all three years of her junior high rodeo career, and is looking forward to her high school rodeo career.
In addition to her brothers Tate and Talon, she has an older sister, Jenna, who is 24. Jenna is married; Tate just graduated from Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Talon is a student at Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington.
Jaden is the daughter of Jason and Candy Mathis.
