Living on the Edge

Nokomis Scholarships Help Young Families

In 2009, there were 14,000 females living in poverty in Cass and Clay Counties, and 12% of all children living in Cass and Clay Counties were living in poverty. Yet, 71% of all women in the area were working. Many single women with children live on the edge of poverty, working one or more minimum wage jobs. (U.S.Census)

In 2010, Nokomis Child Care Center provided $95,000 in scholarship funds to women. The fee reductions make a critical difference in their lives, and those of their children. Money for the scholarship fund comes from individual and business donations and through grants.

The Women’s Fund Endowment of the Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation was created to provide support to programs like Nokomis. Grants totaling nearly $100,000 have been awarded from the Women’s Fund Endowment to support programs that serve women and children in our community. This includes grants to Nokomis, where a fee reduction of $50 a week can make the difference for women living on the edge.

Women like Kaylin Beck, who came to Fargo at age 19, eager to go to college. It was a big move, from tiny Britton, South Dakota, and she began her general studies at Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Moorhead.

Her son Maddix was born in 2005, and she left the technical college to take paramedic training through FM Ambulance and Bismarck State College. She then worked as a phlebotomist at Sanford Health, and returned to Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Moorhead to obtain a nursing degree.

Her daughter Kallie was born in 2010, as Kaylin was completing her training to become an LPN. Kaylin worked several jobs while attending school and was hired by Harmony Home Health Care of Fergus Falls, originally as an aide. She is currently employed by them as an in-home nurse for children in the F-M area. “I really like working with children and the hours are flexible, Kaylin explains. It is a family owned business and I like that.”

“The scholarship money available at Nokomis provides a fee reduction of $200 a month for me. That makes a huge difference in my ability to continue my education and build a life for myself and my children, says Kaylin. I am taking two online classes right now, so that I can enter the RN program at Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Moorhead. I would like to become a Trauma or Emergency Room Nurse.”

As a parent with two children, Kaylin still works two jobs. “I needed a different car and now I have car payments, so the tips I make at my second job make my car payments. Food has gone up, and all other expenses as well. “My kids have to spend a lot of time in a daycare and I want my kids in the best daycare possible. Friends recommended Nokomis Childcare Center. It is the best place for them to be; they learn so much and it is such a caring environment for them. They love it there.”

Sam Stanke was twelve years old when she got her first horse, and it’s been a love affair ever since. That same year, she went to the Valley City Winter Show and saw her first rodeo queen. “We have a video of me talking about the Winter Show,” Stanke said. “I had forgotten all about that video, and when I saw it, I was surprised. There I was, twelve years old, and saying that I wanted to be a rodeo queen.”

Sam Stanke, now twenty-two years old, is the daughter of Shannan and Greg Stanke. She has two sisters, Camryn and Grace, and the family lives in rural West Fargo where they raise hunting dogs and horses. The family owns and operates The Urban Ranch, a western boutique with a tack consignment component on Main Street in West Fargo.

On October 10, 2010, at the Badland’s Circuit Final, Stanke gave a two-minute speech on “Being a Cowgirl with Character.” She not only won the speech award, she also won the appearance and personality categories and was crowned with the title Miss Rodeo North Dakota 2011. Stanke was presented with a Billy Cook saddle and given the opportunity to compete in the Miss Rodeo America competition.

“As the reigning queen, I’ve traveled across the state to educate people about rodeo. I’ve been able to do so many interesting things. I helped raise funds for the Riding for Dreams therapeutic riding program. I appeared at The Disabled American Veterans and Auxiliary Annual Bike Rally and visited the Jamestown Buffalo Museum to help raise funds,” Stanke said. “I do weekly radio spots and go to schools. I attend rodeos where I carry the flag and work behind the scenes. Recently, I made an appearance at the ND Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora. I am an ambassador of rodeo, of the state of North Dakota, and a representative of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.”

Rodeo, also called America’s Original Professional Sport, is as old as the west itself. The PRCA, commonly known as ProRodeo is the largest and oldest rodeo-sanctioning body in the world. Annually, the PRCA sanctions around 600 rodeos. Attracting 30 million fans, rodeo is, according to the Sports Business Daily, the seventh in overall attendance for major sporting events, putting it ahead of both golf and tennis. The PRCA is proud of its rich traditions and values including a love of animals, competition, excitement, and promotion of the western lifestyle.

“Rodeo is very patriotic and historic,” Stanke said. “I enjoy the western lifestyle, and the excitement of rodeo. I’ve never been to a rodeo where at some point I don’t get goose bumps from the national anthem, or the tributes, or the Cowboy’s Prayer. Rodeo is very American and very moving.”

Stanke’s first official appearance as Miss Rodeo North Dakota was at the National Western Stock Show in

Denver. “There were 26 performances in one month,” Stanke said. “The National Western Stock Show is like a massive Winter Show,” Stanke said. “I wanted to be known for working hard. I made up a motto for myself: It’s not about showing up and demanding what you deserve; it’s about showing up and asking how you can serve.”

While traveling to rodeos nationwide, a typical day for Stanke starts at 6:00 a.m. with feeding and watering the horses. After breakfast, she is off to exercise and wash the grand entry horses. She has an hour off and spends the next four hours brushing and saddling horses, polishing the silver on their saddles, and warming them up. “After all that work, I’m looking pretty messy,” Stanke said. “But I can go from sweaty and icky to being ‘Queen-Ready’ in twenty minutes flat.”

During the rodeo itself, Stanke does whatever jobs are needed. “I help the judges, run score sheets, and settle horses down. I usually get to bed about midnight. Then it’s up again at 5:00.”

At a rodeo, stock contractors provide the bucking horses, the bull, steers, and calves. They are businesspeople who Stanke said are hard to impress. But she is up for the challenge. “If a stock contractor has a horse that is being a stink, I get on the horse and work the kinks out. I love a challenge. I help unsaddle and cool-down horses, and I don’t fall off! Not all queens can ride. Some are just out there to look pretty and carry a flag. I like being behind the shoots and helping out. I like getting my hands dirty.”

“Being a rodeo queen is time consuming and expensive,” Stanke said. “I have to balance my duties with traveling and also being home to teach riding lessons and take care of my own horses.”

“Sam is like the Mary Poppins of the horse world,” Shannan said. “Her students love her and name their stick horses after Sam’s horses.”

Stanke is quick to thank the many people in her life who have paved the way for her. “Sonya Hoffman was my trainer for many years,” she said. “And Lesa Wilm taught me about the pageant world. She comes over, throws questions at me, criticizes me, and encourages me.”

Rodeo queens not only need a working knowledge of the pageant world, they are also required to give speeches and to model. “Miss Rodeo Mandan was my first pageant that required a speech,” Stanke said. “I opened my mouth and said two lines, and forgot the rest completely.”

“I met two of the women who have really helped me because of the hunting dogs my family raises. One day a woman came to look at our puppies, and it turned out she was a professional modeling coach. Her name is Diane Albright. She has made a tremendous difference in my life.”

“A few weeks later, Janelle Combs came to look at puppies,” Stanke said. “Janelle is the owner of Speaking with Success. We negotiated puppy prices for speech lessons and she took me to watch speech competitions. She taught me what tones to use, what is good and bad in speech.”

“I’ve known Melissa Erickson, owner of Pearly Girly Designs, for many years and she offered to sew for me. Rodeo queens model full-length dresses made of lambskin. A lot of seamstresses are scared of working on leather. But she took my measurements and sewed a dress that fits like a glove.” “Each time I thought about giving up, another door opened for me. I have to say, that all along the way God has provided for my every need.” Stanke’s hard work ethic paid off, and she was invited to be a part of the prestigious Houston Rodeo. But after spending the month of March in Texas, she returned home to a series of daunting challenges.

“In April, the floods began,” Stanke said. “We sandbagged our house five times. Everyone was so helpful, Sheriff Laney, the National Guard, our friends.” The Stanke home had four feet of water around it for seven weeks. “We lived in our home with no running water for a month. We boated everything in and out. On May 9, when we were all in Fargo,” Stanke said, “My dad went out to our house to pick up a litter of puppies. That day, when dad boated up, he saw flames coming out of the house.”

“My mom and I were standing on the road watching it burn,” Stanke said. “When everyone is safe, you start to think about the things in the house. My mom was thinking: The Dresses! And I was thinking: My Saddle! The upstairs had smoke damage; we had to pull out our flooring and our roof. We salvaged part of the house, but lost a litter of puppies.”

Friends came and helped with the initial cleaning, grabbing boxes of things to store. The Stankes rented an apartment in West Fargo and began the long process of cleaning up and rebuilding. Thankfully, Stanke’s saddle and all five of her full-length lambskin dresses were salvaged. “My biggest challenge at that time,” Stanke recalls, “was packing. I had all my gear, saddles, hats, buckles, crowns, and dresses, everything I needed to bring to a rodeo with me, in five different locations. I had to drive all over, and sort through boxes, and try to be prepared to leave for another rodeo.”

In a conversation at the Urban Ranch store, Stanke’s mother met

Ron DeTienne, a man who restores saddles and owns Haybelly Leather. DeTienne is also a leather artist who had won the National Chaps Championship in Sheridan Wyoming.

“Ron is the nicest man,” Stanke said. “Part of the Miss Rodeo America is a chaps competition, and Ron offered to make my chaps. I am going to Miss

Rodeo America wearing chaps made by a national chap’s artist!”

Aimee Schirado has done all of Stanke’s photography. “This year’s Miss Rodeo America theme is Vintage Cowgirl, and it sparked Aimee’s interest,” Stanke said. “Aimee wanted to shoot me indoors with lace and ruffles. She wanted an old west feel to the photography. Aimee made my pictures out of the ordinary, and I’m very happy with them!”

Stanke has had many honors this year, including being featured in “Barrel Horse World News,” and being one of only two state rodeo queens to be invited to carry flags and help run Cervi’s grand entry performances at the

In August, as the family continued to rebuild after the fire and flood, she spent a large amount of time preparing her application for Miss Rodeo America.

The Miss Rodeo America competition, December 3 through

10, will be at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The annual Miss Rodeo America Pageant has been a tradition since 1956. Cowgirls will be judged in the major categories of personality, appearance, horsemanship, and rodeo knowledge. They must demonstrate skills in public speaking, personal interviewing, horsemanship, general equine science, and current event awareness. They are judged for their photogenic qualities, visual poise, and overall professionalism.

“This year the pageant is running the same week as the National Finals Rodeo, like the Super Bowl of rodeo,” Stanke said. “The fashion show has a Hollywood theme. I designed my dress and incorporated some velvet into the leather. It has crystals on it and is mermaid style.”

“Being Miss Rodeo North Dakota 2011 has been great,” Stanke said. “I’ve been able to see so many states this year. Traveling has been a highlight. I have a lot of North Dakota pride. I’m proud to represent our state. People who see me work rodeos have said ‘We’re very impressed with that North Dakota girl,’ and that is such an honor to hear. I’m glad to see the qualities of hard work and dependability being associated with our state.”

Since 1956, there have been only two Miss Rodeo North Dakota women who have gone on to hold the Miss Rodeo American title. 1983 Brenda Lee (Bonogofsky) Pickett was crowned in 1983, and Ashley Andrews was crowned in 2007.

The coronation for Miss Rodeo America 2012 will take place on Saturday December 10, 2011. No matter what the outcome of the competition, Sam Stanke will always be Miss Rodeo North Dakota 2011. She has represented the state of North Dakota and promoted rodeo, while triumphing over personal difficulties, flood, and fire. It’s been quite a ride!

For more infor mation visit missrodeoamerica.com or Facebook: SamStanke, MRND 2011. Read an issue online of Area Woman at www.issuu.com/ areawoman.