story by Ruth Nicolaus
Jordan Paradis is calm, cool and collected.
Those personality traits fit her well for the role she is in.
As secretary for the Idaho Cowboys Association, she is responsible for association meeting minutes, fielding phone calls, and the biggest responsibility, writing checks for winning contestants.
The ICA has streamlined their association, that after each rodeo, the secretary sends results to Jordan, who audits them, then writes checks to the winners. It’s a big job, and she has to be focused to make sure it gets done correctly.
A resident of Council, Idaho, she also secretaries rodeos, having learned when her mom got involved.
As a kid tagging along with her mom, Heather Paradis, “I thought it was super fun to sit in the office and learn,” she said. “So when she was getting trained, I was learning everything she was learning.”
By the time she was 16, she was helping the rodeo secretary, and three years ago, at age 18, she began secretarying rodeos by herself.
She enjoys seeing the contestants come into the office and visiting with them. “I get to see everybody and get to meet their families. I think that’s super cool.”
There are some disadvantages to secretarying, and that includes when things don’t go right, “and you’re trying to solve the issue, or something gets missed and you’re trying to track it down.”
The secretary office can be chaotic at times, but when it gets super busy, she handles it well. “It takes quite a bit to get me riled up.”
Jordan is a 2019 graduate of Council High School and is currently a student at the College of Western Idaho Nampa campus. By May 2025, she hopes to have an ag-business degree and will be QuickBooks certified.
She is a barrel racer but isn’t competing a lot now, since her horse is getting older. But she has a two-year-old mare who she hopes to train for the barrels.
For fun, she likes to hunt and fish with her family. She’s gone offshore fishing with her dad in Texas, catching snappers. At home, the Paradis family likes to fish at Hells Canyon, Brownlee and the Oxbow area, catching bass, crappie and catfish. Sometimes they turn it into a competition, to see who can catch the most or the biggest. Usually Jordan or her dad win.
She also likes to travel with her parents, including to her mom’s work conferences. Earlier this year she tagged along as her mom attended a medical equipment conference in Las Vegas.“I got to see the dialysis (equipment) world and meet people, so I have connections if I want to work” in that field.
Jordan loves her mom’s tater tot casserole, often requesting it when she goes back to college after a weekend at home. She likes vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, and is partial to her grandma’s vanilla cake with whipped cream and strawberries on top. She likes sweet tea, and her favorite holiday is Independence Day. “I like the fireworks, and it’s one of the holidays where we’re together as a family,” she said. Sometimes the Paradis family goes fishing, or barbecues, or is at rodeos over the Fourth of July.
She’s a night owl more than a morning person, and if she were given $1 million, she’d buy land and construct a barn-dominium.
The Paradis family got involved in rodeo through the Adams County Rodeo in Council, an ICA rodeo. She’s earned a couple barrel racing buckles from that rodeo, and that’s how she and her family began their affiliation with the ICA.
Her dad, Michael, is an electrician, and her brother, Bonner, who is 23 years old, is an ICA bull rider. Her dad is president of the Adams County Rodeo board; her mom, Heather, is treasurer, and Jordan is marketing director, doing social media and securing sponsorships.
