Education paid for through RHOP for Bow rodeo cowgirl
BROKEN BOW - Kenna McCaslin of Broken Bow has been selected as one of nineteen students from across the state for participation in the Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP).
The program pays for her entire tuition and board at Chadron State College and guarantees her a spot at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Scottsbluff. In return, RHOP recipients must spend two to four years working in rural Nebraska.
The eighteen-year-old cowgirl competes in the breakaway roping, barrel racing and goat tying. A graduate of Broken Bow High School, throughout her high school career Kenna played volleyball for a year, basketball for two years and was a member of her school’s FFA chapter and Future Health Professionals (HOSA). She is a member of the National Honor Society.
Tagging along with her veterinarian grandpa, Harold McCaslin, as a kid, she always wanted to be a vet. “I looked up to him in so many ways,” she said. “I loved spending time with him and at the farm.”
But as she job shadowed at the local hospital in high school, she changed her mind.
“I did a twelve-hour shift the first day and fell in love with it,” she said. Being able to talk to her patients instead of guessing where they hurt, like with animals, made a difference. “I thought it might be nice to have patients that can tell you what’s wrong, instead of playing a guessing game,” she joked.
In addition to rodeo and her high school activities, Kenna stays busy with several other activities. She loves her job at the feedlot and got her certified nursing assistant certificate (CNA) and will work at a local nursing home this summer.
McCaslin has qualified for the Nebraska State High School Finals Rodeo the last three years, finishing in the top twenty in the goat tying twice.
She will work towards a bachelors in science- nursing degree and is undecided if she will specialize in pediatrics or trauma.
High school rodeo teaches life lessons to students, she believes. “I think it builds character. It teaches you how to be responsible, because you’re not only caring for yourself but your animals, too. And you’re learning how to balance something that takes a lot of time, and staying on top of your schoolwork. It’s not an easy thing to accomplish, but it is possible.”
She is the daughter of Thomas and Ann McCaslin.
The RHOP program requires recipients maintain a GPA 3.3.
McCaslin, along with about 150 other high school youth competitors, will compete at the Nebraska High School Finals Rodeo in Hastings June 10-12 at the Adams County Fairgrounds.