story by Siri Stevens
Emma Cameron left the National High School Finals as the National High School Queen. New Mexico has not had this honor since 1969. This is the second year she has tried for this title. She came in second runner up last year. “The only two categories I wasn’t top five in last year were modeling and appearance,” said the 17-year-old from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She went home and stepped up her game for this year’s competition. “I designed all of my clothes and had them made to fit me.” She studied what Miss Rodeo America and other queens were wearing and developed her own take on what she thought she would look good in. She worked on her modeling by taking ballet lessons. “It was super hard for me to look comfortable when I had to think about walking. My workout partner suggested I take ballet lessons and so I did. It helped me look so much more relaxed.” Emma works out every day – she prefers running for her cardio and works a lot on her core strength. “When I was little, I got tossed off a horse and into a fence so the bottom of my spine is aligned funny.” In order for her to ride as much as she does without her back hurting, she has to keep her core strong. “In order to ride it’s super important to keep yourself in shape as well as your horse.” Her horsemanship coach, Julie Wilson, coached both Emma and Madeline Gere. This year she won six out of the eight categories. She won appearance, personality, test, interview, impromptu speech, and horsemanship. She was second in prepared speech and third in modeling.
She has been the New Mexico High School rodeo queen for two years now and her platform is rodeo. “My take on that is ‘Live your passion,’ and my speech was about how in rodeo, in order to be competitive, you have to live it, make it your life.” She had a general idea and outline of her speech, but the final one came out of her head.
Emma lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her mom, Karen and her younger brother Jack. She started her queening when she was 9, winning a county title, but wasn’t sure she wanted to continue. She wanted to rodeo, competing in barrels, poles, and now reined cow horse. She decided in high school to get back into queening. “I realized there is not platform in rodeo like it and that I can help promote this sport that I love.”
The day after returning from Nationals, Emma hopped on a plane to go look at colleges in California. “This is the only chance I’m going to have to do this before next year,” she said. She will meet with the Stanford Equestrian Team, her college of choice. “I want to go to Stanford and become a lawyer – that’s been my goal since I was super little.” She will study international relations and political science and go on to law school and hopefully be part of the equestrian team. “None of this would be possible without the sponsors of high school rodeos – everywhere I’ve gone, they are there to help me.”
Emma and the 2017 National High School Rodeo Queen, Opal Harkins, Montana – courtesy of the family
Emma’s Winning Speech
The first time I got seriously grounded, I was four years old. My mom was already late for work and I refused to get off of my horse. In turn, for two whole weeks, I was not allowed to ride, touch, feed or even clean up after my horses. Looking back I kind of wish I had enjoyed having someone muck pens for me just a little bit more, but I also learned a lot from that stubborn little girl. Most importantly, you have to live your passion.
I discovered at a young age that my passion is rodeo. Rodeo is a sport that requires unprecedented passion because it also requires an unprecedented amount of failure before you find success. Trevor Brazile is celebrated as the king of cowboys claiming more world titles than any cowboy in history, yet not once in his high school career did he qualify for the National High School Finals Rodeo. He committed to continue living his passion and ultimately it paid off, twenty three times to be exact.
Statistically in rodeo you are going to lose more than you are going to win. At the same time every time you set foot in an arena you have an opportunity to break records and make history. In a sport where winning and losing is determined by hundredths of a second, those with the passion to put in the extra hours will ultimately prevail.
I have decided that I am willing to do whatever it takes to live my passion. Do you have what it takes to live yours?
