story by Riata Cummings
Soloman Andersen is the son of Patty and Eric Andersen of Wallsburg, Utah. He just finished his eighth grade year at Rocky Mountain Middle School and will attend Wasatch High School this fall. He is looking forward to having new teacher, trying out for the basketball team, becoming a member of the rodeo team and joining the school’s chapter of the National FFA Organization. Soloman has two older brothers, Hayden and Caleb, and one younger brother, Maxwell. Caleb and Hayden are twins, adopted from Ghana at 20 months old. Soloman and Maxwell are biological brothers three years apart and adopted from a different, more eastern area in Ghana. Rodeo keeps their family hopping, and their quality time together is usually in the truck on the way to a rodeo.
Soloman has always loved sports and when his brothers started competing in rodeo he wasn’t far behind. He said, “I had watched my older brothers and decided that I wanted to know what it was like. Since then I’ve never, not liked it.” So far his favorite rodeos were the St. George Jr. High show, where he won his first belt buckle, and state finals where he was crowned the chute dogging champion. Just before leaving to compete at the National Junior High School Finals Rodeo, he got a new horse that he plans to steer wrestle on in high school. The horse is a big, tall, bay named Ponco. He has set a goal to work through all his disappointments, show tireless grit in the face of challenge, and do the best that he can. One of Soloman’s favorite parts of the sport is cheering his friends on. This year at state finals his good friend Kayson Perry was third in the first go-round, winning his first buckle. Soloman said, “I think I was more excited than he was. I was bummed because I had a bad run that round, but as soon as he threw his steer I was so happy for him.”
Soloman lives by the saying, “Grab life by the horns.” It reminds him to, “Go and do it. You only have one opportunity so you have to go and try new things.” One of the hardest things he has had to do was jump of his horse to steer wrestle for the first time. Because of his experience chute dogging he knew all the fundamentals of the ground work, but starting from horseback was a new and daunting task. He remarked, “After running the horse past a few times I knew I had to man up and get down because it was going to happen eventually.”
His heroes are his brothers, Caleb and Hayden, as well as Sam Carson. He watched the three of them develop strength in the arena and character in life’s arena, and admires their grit and good attitudes. Someday, Soloman would like to be remembered as a gritty, hardworking person with a big heart full of kindness. He would advise rodeo contestants to make new friends, talk to as many people as they can, and, most importantly, not to give up. He said, “If you never give up people see that. It affects how they feel about you and your own attitude. So, never give up.” Soloman would like to thank his parents for giving him the opportunity to rodeo. He would like to thank his brothers, Sam Carson, and Mark Bowthorp for showing him how to succeed in the arena and getting his rodeo career started.
