Great Chat: Vo-Ag Education and the Rodeo Team at Browning HS

A couple weeks ago, I was making a swing from Helena to Malta...so I thought- let's stop in KSEN Radio country and do a show from Cut Bank. So I posted a note on social media that I would be in Cut Bank, and asked who I should talk to while I was there that would be interesting to have on the radio. Somebody said, you need to talk to Jimi Champ- the Ag ed teacher at Browning High School. She's one of the smartest teachers I know, the commenter said.

Long story short, my show wraps up at 10 a.m. and Jimi was, of course, still in school. So I recorded a conversation with her on Monday and plan on airing the chat Wednesday morning.

As luck would have it, she is not only the Vo-Ag education teacher at Browning High School, she's also the coach for the rodeo team- and they've got a very important fundraising banquet coming up. (Details below)

Jimi Champ: "It's February 6, at 530 here at Browning High School auditorium, and 100% of the percent of the proceeds from that activity go back to the rodeo club. That helps with their travel to the spring rodeos, the fall rodeos, when we start over in the fall, it helps them get to the state finals, the national finals. I don't know if everybody knows that high school rodeo isn't a school sponsored event...and we help pay for their entry fees, their travel, their gas money, food- whatever they need. We help. We buy jackets, some swag for them, so that they all have a matching outfit when they get to the rodeo, and then we also help pay for rodeo schools for the kids to go to with that money. So it's a really great, great opportunity for the kids to get to shine in front of their community and kind of show their talents. And we're really excited about that."

How big is trades education at Browning High School? 

Jimi Champ: "We push the trades here at Browning High School so much. We've got an awesome ag program here, and I wish every single school had the same opportunities that our kids have. We've got a great wood shop, home improvement class, we've got auto, we've got welding, and then we have the ag class here in my class. And yeah, we push it. I'll tell the kids, you know what? I have a teaching degree, two Master's degree, and now I don't even need those jobs, those degrees I have because I run a ranch and I teach agriculture. So there's huge, huge opportunity in the trades. And just- we're trying to push kids as much as we can into more of the Vo-tech kind of classes. You know, with Havre has such a great vo-tech classes, and SKC Salish Kootenai College has classes. And that's one of my big things, is go out, get it, bypass that traditional college degree, and get yourself a vo-tech degree and start making money right now instead of having to pay back student loans."

Full audio coming up on Wednesday's Montana Talks. Catch it LIVE or listen to the podcast later.

Here's the details for the upcoming banquet: