story by Riata Cummings
The Utah Junior High School Rodeo Queen hails from West Haven, Utah. She just finished her eighth grade year at Rocky Mountain Jr. High. The daughter of Ben and Bradi Howell, Emma is a hardworking and passionate rodeo competitor. She has two older brothers, Cam and Wyatt. As a family they love spending time in the great outdoors. They boat, hike, fish, hunt and camp as a family, and Emma loves that rodeo provides them with additional time together.
Rodeo queening has been a big part of Emma’s life, and she started when she was just eight-years-old. At that time, some of her heros, including Shanae Shiner and Makenzie Maughan were at the forefront of rodeo queening in Utah. With examples like that, she worked at her craft and still strives for improvement.
She now competes in the barrel racing and pole bending, and she is looking forward to adding reined cow horse and the queen contest to her regular events as she moves up to high school. While not all states have frequent queen contests, Utah hosts one almost every rodeo weekend and Emma looks forward to honing her skills and becoming friends with the other queen contestants.
Emma also looks forward to increased time spent with her two rodeo horses, Alex Boon and Runner. She loves everything with them, from hard practice sessions to relaxing trail rides.
Rodeo has taught her many things, especially hard work. Emma knows that, despite the fact that plans don’t always work out, it’s important to work for what you want and push through trials. She would advise all rodeo competitors to remember that you can’t walk away the winner every time. Sometimes you are going to lose and even though it’s hard, you can’t let those hard things stop you from trying again. She believes that if you can dream it, you can do it. Nothing is beyond your grasp as long as you are willing to work.
Emma hopes to leave a legacy of helpfulness and happiness and, as long as she keeps up the hard work, she is well on her way to leaving a legacy of success as well.
