Monday, A pr il 10, 2 017
C a l P o l y, S a n L u i s O b i s p o
w w w. m u s t a n g n e w s . n e t
E s t a b l i s h e d 1916
Poly Royal rodeo legacy continues
FRANK HUANG | MUSTA NG NE W S
THOROUGHBRED THRILLS | The 77th Poly Royal Rodeo sold out Alex G. Spanos Stadium, as 11,000 attendees watched teams compete in events such as barrel racing, bull riding, tie down roping and more.
Sabrina Thompson @ sabrinaswriting
The term “Central Coast” tends to bring thoughts of crashing waves and surfboards before those of dirt-filled stadiums and saddles. However, Cal Poly proves the coast can have both with its 77-year-strong rodeo. The Poly Royal Rodeo is considered one of the biggest rodeos in the nation and has grown popular through the years. Its popularity moved the event to Alex G. Spanos Stadium this year to accommodate up to 11,000 attendees. Competitors from Cuesta College, California State University, Fresno, University of Nevada, Las Vegas and more came to the sold-out Spanos Stadium April 8 for another year of the coveted tradition. The riders then From its start in 1939 to now, hundreds of titles have been won by dedicated students. Some of these students are brand new to the sport while others have had family showing
them the ropes for generations. “When I got to Cal Poly I wasn’t sure if I was going to rodeo or not,” agricultural science senior Kayla Nichol said. “It’s just something that would be so hard to give up. I couldn’t imagine not having my horse here.” Many of the team’s members started working with horses from a young age and continued the sport after college, some turning their passion into a career. One of the most notable Cal Poly rodeo alumni is Monty Roberts. After competing and winning titles for the National Champion Team Roper in 1956 and National Champion Steer Wrestler in 1957, Roberts created a successful career for himself as a professional cowboy and rodeo coach. Roberts has also published several books, bred award-winning horses and created rodeo camps for beginners, all driven by his love for horses. “It has been my life’s work to develop the best horses possible in the show ring and then in my later years, buy, sell and train championship
thoroughbred racehorses,” Roberts said. “I continue to work with horses to show the world that there is a better way to work with them.” Other rodeo alumni have found success outside of the rodeo, yet still maintain their roots in the sport. Alumnus and 1989 and 1991 AllAround Cowgirl Julie Adair has been in several films as a stunt rider, such as “Lizzie McGuire,” “Charmed” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Alumnus Tom Ferguson, who competed on the rodeo team from 1971 to 1973, found success in the professional world of rodeo. He was the first person to make more than $100,000 in a single rodeo season and make more than $1 million in career earnings, with six consecutive all-around world titles picked up along the way. The riders now Though the team formed in 1939, the first rodeo held on campus wasn’t until 1956. Since then, the team has held 44 national titles and has the most wins of any program in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association.
Students competing in the rodeo enroll in Advanced Competitive Rodeo (AG 243-02) and meet during competition season. While the rodeo is a competitive and serious sport, the team fosters strong bonds and lifetime friendships among each other and their competitors. Because riders are a part of a relatively small community, interacting with competitors is common at local and regional rodeos. “It’s really fun, it’s like a high school reunion,” Nichol said. “It’s like, ‘Hey how are you doing?’ and catching up with old friends. You can feel the excitement in the crowd and in your competitors.” It’s always about the horse Though some past team members have found great success from the rodeo, life on the team is anything but glamorous. Taking care of animals is no easy task, but it pays off when a strong connection is made. According to Nichol, trust between a human and a horse is a two-way street. “I have to trust when I go in the
arena he is going to do his job and I’m going to do mine. That’s a really special bond that we have,” Nichol said about her relationship with her 12-year-old horse Jelly. Bioresource and agricultural engineering senior Colton Farquer competes as a roper and said these bonds are even more important during his event. “I think it’s a challenge,” Farquer said. “I think the coolest thing about roping is you have a horse and a calf and a person and you have to get all three things to work in sync in order to get a time. All these pieces and components and fundamentals have to come together.” The pieces came together for Farquer; he walked away as the tie down roping winner. Other Cal Poly wins included agricultural communication senior Katie Rice’s tie for women’s all-around cowgirl. Though the preliminary competition Friday, April 7 was moved to the rodeo grounds because of rain, Saturday night’s rodeo at Spanos proved successful and ready to return for a 78th year.
What an art & design degree is worth Nicole Horton @ CPMustangNews
CIRCLE KLEAN
CIRCLE K | COURTE SY PHOTO
| Circle K has participated in beach clean-ups.
Campus club helps provide water to developing nations Cassandra Garibay @ CPMustangNews
Imagine waking up desperate for water. You swing yourself out of bed, you pitter-patter to the faucet to fill up a cup. When you turn the handle, disease-ridden water pours out, unsafe to drink. Or even worse, no water comes out at all. The closest drop of drinkable water is roughly threeand-a-half miles away. This may seem far-fetched in America, but it is a reality for many in developing nations. This is where the Thirst Project comes in. The Thirst Project is a
nonprofit organization that aims to provide developing countries with freshwater resources and water health education. The organization gears its efforts toward simple methods of retrieving water, such as freshwater wells. Cal Poly club Circle K is an extension of the Kiwanis Club for college students and is a volunteer and service-oriented club involved with local community events and national programs such as the Thirst Project. FRESHWATER continued on page 2
Cal Poly is known for a few things: its location in the Oprah-certified “happiest city in America,” its beautiful Central Coast environment and its hands-on approach to the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. While many students spend long days in the lab composing theories and unraveling equations, there are plenty of students who chose cameras and sketchbooks over lab coats and Petri dishes. Within Cal Poly’s College of Liberal Arts, the art and design department supports students concentrating in studio art, photography and graphic design. The Learn by Doing motto weaved into the curriculum on campus is undoubtedly practiced within the art and design department as well. Perhaps it is this take on learning that makes Cal Poly — a seemingly unconventional art school — a strong competitor in the field. Many art and design students at Cal Poly are certain about their future in the field. So why did they choose Cal Poly over schools like Parsons or Rhode Island School of Design to pursue such a career? For art and design sophomore Everett Fitzpatrick, academic flexibility and diversity brought him to Cal Poly. “If I went to a strictly art intensive
school, it would have worked me in that one concentration until I grew to hate it,” Fitzpatrick said. “By going to Cal Poly, I am able to expand my knowledge in other fields and still have a curiosity to pursue my dream outside of the classroom ... With the outside knowledge I have gained at Cal Poly and the social interactions of working with people from majors other than art, I have developed a better understanding of who I am and thus have gained what I came to college for.” Fitzpatrick is moving to New York City at the end of the school year to take on a photography internship. While the number of art and design students at Cal Poly may be low, they continuously leave their mark on campus through exhibitions and projects. However, art and design freshman Madelyn LaBarbera feels her work doesn’t always receive the credit it should outside of the art community. “I feel like the department doesn’t necessarily get the attention it always deserves compared to some other majors like engineering or business, but it’s just as important and has its own home here at Cal Poly,” LaBarbera said. “A lot of my peers and I worked really hard on work we were passionate about for our portfolio so we could get in here and I think people tend to assume we are less intelligent because we are in the arts. The pro-
SOPHIA O’KEEFE | MUSTA NG NE W S
VARIET Y | Students learn different mediums to display their art.
gram had a 13 percent acceptance rate this year and everyone worked really hard to make it.” Despite some stereotypes surrounding the department, the passion of the faculty and students made pursuing a career in art a no-brainer for students like art and design freshman McKenna Krogius. “One cool thing I immediately noticed about the art kids here is that everyone is an individual,” Krogius said. “Everyone knows exactly what they want to do, but they are also so open
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to new ideas and thoughts.” Krogius said learning about branding and aesthetic design has sparked big goals for her. “My ultimate goal would be to become a creative director for a big firm,” Krogius said. “I know I can use my skills that I have learned here so far at Cal Poly to achieve this. It is hard to get rid of the mindset that you cannot achieve anything with an arts major but then once you do, you realize how many amazing opportunities there are for you.”