CEILY SIMPTON OF REGION VII

by Laramie Wedemyer

Congratulations to this month’s “WHATAKID,” Ceily Simpton! The Region VII, cowgirl from Navasota, Texas has a passion for rodeo and her sights set on big things ahead. The 18-year-old competes in the barrel racing and breakaway roping.

While she has many accolades in both events, she explained that barrel racing is her favorite due to the hard work and dedication it has taken to get to a place of winning on her horse Twister. She has been able to see the fruits of her labor after putting in years of work.

Ceily comes from a prominent rodeo background, where both of her parents rodeoed and so did her grandparents. Rodeo is in her blood, and she explained “rodeo has been a lifestyle for me growing up, and I truly don’t know who I would be without it.”

Her great horse, Twister, an 8-year-old palomino gelding, has carried her to the pay window many times. Twister has been in her family since he was born and is out of her mom’s previous pro rodeo mare.

After starting Twister on the barrels young, Ceily was able to finish him out through junior high rodeos and become extremely competitive in high school. Some of her sweetest memories on him are qualifying to state all four years and being shy of making it to nationals her junior year by just a few points.

“Even though I did not make it to nationals, I was extremely proud of what we accomplished,” Ceily said. “We gave it our all and ended up placing fourth in the average in a state as hard as Texas, but with how points fell, we ended up placing fifth in the standings for nationals.”

When it comes to breakaway roping, she rides her 14-year-old bay mare, Chanel. Ceily said, “she has the attitude of a pony but definitely has the heart of a big horse and always tries her hardest. Even though she is not the biggest, she gives it her all each time.”

Ceily has competed on Chanel since her freshman year of high school and qualified for many rodeos and ropings. Her most memorable moment was winning reserve champion in the break- away roping at the Hooey Junior Patriot in 2020.

Outside of THSRA, she competes in the World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA), the Cowboys Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA), and has recently bought her Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) permit.

Her plans for the summer are to continue rodeoing and try and fill her WPRA permit before she goes to college. She also qualified to compete at the WCRA major in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Ceily is a senior at Navasota High School and is graduating sixth in her class. Being involved in the school has helped her become a better, well-rounded person in life, she explained. Her involvement has included being a part of the National Honor Society and serving in her FFA chapter.

Rodeo and FFA have shared a large part of her life growing up. Ceily began showing her third grade year as a junior FFA member. Throughout her time in FFA, she has shown market goats, served as secretary and vice president for her chapter, and competed on the livestock judging team, agricultural advocacy team and in job interview.

Her dad’s family is in the goat business, raising market goats, so Ceily took up showing from a young age. She has competed at major stock shows such as Houston, San Antonio and Austin where she won a class in Houston and placed at one in Austin before her showing career slowed down due to COVID.

“I have always been more involved in rodeo, but it is hard trying to do the two together because there have been times I have been entered in the San Antonio Youth Rodeo and also shown goats within the same couple of days.”

Being a part of FFA and something larger than herself has taught her many life lessons about being a selfless servant and working hard. She was recognized as a recipient of the Shelby Binford Memorial Award in honor of a previous member of her FFA chapter that passed away due to cancer.

“It was an honor to be a recipient because Shelby was recognized for being a selfless member and devoting a lot of her time to making sure FFA was enjoyable to all members,” said Ceily.

After high school, Ceily will be attending Texas A&M University and competing on the rodeo team in the barrel racing and breakaway roping. She plans to pursue a degree in Agribusiness and seek a career in marketing after college.

She explained that she found a niche in the marketing world because “you can see how much something can grow from it and benefit a business.” This originally stemmed from making fun videos on her personal TikTok and creating a large following to making an account for her parent’s business, Stampede Conversions and Trailer Sales.

Being able to help her mom and dad’s business grow through social media is special for her knowing how much they support her in rodeoing and showing. Ceily said that her mom is her biggest hero and inspiration because of her love for rodeo and sacrifices she made in her own rodeo career to allow Ceily and her sister to be able to compete. “She has also just taught me how to carry myself as a person in and out of the arena.”

Reflecting on a motto in life, Ceily said hers would have to be “live life to the fullest and never live in regret because you never know what God has planned for you.”

“I am very honored to be selected as the Region 7 Whatakid,” Ceily expressed. “Whataburger has been a huge supporter of THSRA and without their contributions, these opportunities would not be possible. Thank you!”