story by Ruth Nicolaus
Kaci Wickersham is in the last semester of her high school rodeo career.
The Verdigre, Neb. cowgirl, a member of the Nebraska High School Rodeo Association, competes in the goat tying, breakaway roping, and pole bending.
Of her three events, goats are her best because she’s spent the most time working on them and has been the most successful at it.
For goat tying, she rides Lill, a horse she tried out her sophomore year. She and Lill were a good fit, so her junior year, the family purchased the horse. Lill is also her pole bending horse, and is pretty laid back, Kaci said. “She’s one of those you can put a kid on, and she’d be fine.”
For the breakaway, she rides Uno, who is faster than her previous breakaway horse. The palomino scores well but is a little more jumpy than Lill. But once he’s warmed up, he settles down.
A 17-year-old senior at Summerland Public School (the consolidation of Clearwater, Ewing and Orchard schools), she likes going to school. Accounting class is her favorite, with chemistry at the bottom of the list. Her favorite teacher is Mrs. Cook, her math teacher for the past seven years. “She makes learning easy,” Kaci said. Kaci serves as Mrs. Cook’s teacher’s assistant.
She is involved in cross country, track, is an alto in choir, and plays the saxophone. She’s a member of the National Honor Society, is on the Principal’s Honor Roll, and is a member of FFA. In FFA, she’s done the vet science CDEs, and with her team, placed sixth at districts last year.
For fun, Kaci and her friends go to O’Neill and eat at the West Side restaurant (her meal of choice is a cheeseburger and French fries.) Sometimes they’ll go bowling in Atkinson, too.
Her favorite food her mom makes is chicken and rice, with Oreo cheesecake, washed down with a glass of lemonade. She loves Snickers, apples, and corn.
The best trip Kaci has been on was to the 2020 National Finals Rodeo in Texas, where she and her family and a friend took in round seven. She got to shop and cheer on her favorite pro cowboy, Tuf Cooper.
The Wickersham family has a pet dog, Memphis, who goes to work with her parents every day.
During the summers and after school, Kaci works at Lazy T, a tire and repair shop that also sells implements. She fills out invoices, helps with inventory, and cleans.
This fall, she plans on attending Chadron (Neb.) State College, where she will study agri-business. She received a Board of Trustees scholarship to Chadron, which will pay for four years of tuition. She plans on rodeoing at Chadron, and after graduation, would like to work for a financial institution.
She qualified for state finals her sophomore year in the goat tying and finished her junior year sixth in the state in the goats.
Kaci has three younger brothers: Cody, who is fifteen, and Cash and Coy, twins, who are thirteen.
She is the daughter of Darin and Kerry Wickersham.
