story by Ruth Nicolaus
Will Schulte doesn’t know a stranger.
The Skiatook, Okla. cowboy, a member of the Oklahoma High School Rodeo Association, can talk to anyone, and he’ll never be accused of being an introvert.
Will, who is 18 years old, competes in the tie-down roping and the team roping, heading for Dawson Appleton.
For the tie-down, he rides a lineback dun named Peanut. For the heading, he rides a 20-year-old flea bitten gray named Wrangler. He’s currently training a six-year-old mare named Baby Doll. With Wrangler being twenty he hopes to retire him and use Baby Doll in college.
He is a senior at Skiatook High School, where the best part of the day is AP Chemistry. Will has a tough class load: in addition to AP Chemistry, he is taking AP Statistics, AP Calculus and a Composition 2 class. He averages about three hours of homework a night, and by the time he graduates from high school, he’ll have 18 college credit hours.
Will plays basketball and golf, is vice-president of the senior class, a member of student council and National Honor Society, and is on the school’s honor roll. He is also on Tulsa Community College’s honor roll.
He is student director of the girls’ breakaway event, which he enjoys, because “it’s fun to talk to” the people there, and a good way to get involved in other events.
For fun, he loves to hunt and fish.
His dad has engrained in him that school comes first and rodeo second. His sights are set on being a chemical engineer and that profession will allow him to pay for horses and rodeo after college.
Will will attend Oklahoma State University this fall on academic and rodeo scholarships.
He competed at state finals last year in the tie-down roping and is on track to go again this year.
He has an older sister, Riley, a twin sister Kendall, and is the son of Patrick and Michelle Schulte.
