The Gee-Haw Woah Back Rodeo returned to ABAC on Friday, April 10th and Saturday, April 11th, hosted in conjunction with ABAC’s Foundation and Alumni Associations, 4L Rodeo, and ABAC’s Rodeo Club. These institutions, alongside the community of Tifton, make ABAC’s annual rodeo possible.
The main organizer of this event is Ms. Hillery Culpepper, who is a development officer for the Office of Advancement, working with the ABAC Foundation and Alumni Association. Ms. Culpepper worked hard throughout homecoming week to bring campus together, defining homecoming overall for Ms. Culpepper. When discussing how campus comes together, Ms. Culpepper highlighted ABAC Police Department, Sodexo, the Rodeo Club, Agronomy Club, Forestry Club, AGR, and AET Club. The entirety of campus comes together and welcomes everyone onto campus, providing a space for the community of Tifton to come together.
ABAC’s Rodeo Club played a major role in the rodeo organizing and providing volunteers for the night. The Rodeo plays a huge role for the club members as well, by working the Rodeo ABAC students are exposed to the operations of a rodeo, and provided an opportunity to work on the skills rodeo necessitates. With 4L Rodeo coming in and providing the necessary animals required for rodeo competition, alongside judges, the Gee-Haw Woah Back Rodeo is an IRPA and PCA sanctioned event, allowing competitors to rack up points towards national rodeo competitions. This is a welcomed opportunity by Rodeo Club members.
Rodeo Club President Olivia Mitchell testified to such opportunity, discussing rodeo club members participating in rodeo photography and organization alongside actual competition in the weekend’s events. Mitchell also reminisced on last year’s rodeo, discussing how it allowed her “to meet the announcer, who has helped me and our photographer a lot. We talk to him probably four times a week, and he’s helped Ashley (photographer) get into PCA photography.” She also credited this connection for helping her secure a job post-graduate and attributed a lot of her success to the networking that happens at the rodeo.
ABAC Students look forward to the rodeo because it provides opportunities for them to practice skills that struggle to get practiced. For example, student Buck Watkins, who is a junior Livestock Production major. When preparing for an event like this, “I rope a couple of times during the week to get my horse right, get myself right.” To prepare even further, students in the Rodeo Club will get together and carpool to towns close-by to practice with livestock. This isn’t available on ABAC’s campus when it comes to rodeo events that require livestock, but events like barrel racing can be practiced on campus.
ABAC’s Gee-Haw Woah Back Rodeo is a much-anticipated event, hosted by the collective campus for the community of Tifton. Providing this special environment for people of all ages to come and make core memories, and a night full of entertainment and laughter is a point of pride for ABAC as a whole.