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Goat raising skills highlight Rodeo scholarship opportunities

While other fifth-graders try to pick up a sport or hang out with friends, Rachel White picked up a love for livestock. That's turned into big money for college.

HOUSTON — Every year, Texas students are awarded big money for college thanks to their work at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Since its inception, the Rodeo has made it possible for countless Texans to further their education. But the rewards don't come free. Just ask Texas A&M student and RodeoHouston veteran Rachel White.

While White has spent this year as a student intern at the RodeoHouston goat show, her work began years ago.

White began raising goats in her hometown of Burleson, Texas, which is around 20 miles south of Fort Worth.

While other fifth-graders were trying to pick up a sport or hang out with their friends, she picked up a love for livestock as a child.

"My passion was really with agriculture, and I hadn’t really found that out yet until I got into fifth grade and I started showing goats," White said.

Her mom had shown sheep in high school while her dad showed poultry, so you could say it ran in the family.

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"I decided I wanted to show a goat because they had a collar around their neck," she said. "They would be easier to hold onto."

Little did she know that this love for animals would lead to many years of hard work, and eventually a future at Texas A&M University.

“I became a Houston scholar in 2020, and the $20,000 scholarship I got from Houston has really helped to get me through undergrad at A&M," she said. "It allowed me to go to my dream school and not have to worry about the financial side of it as much.”

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From goat shows as a child to her time as a Texas Youth Livestock Ambassador as a high school sophomore, she's already a veteran of the Rodeo. Now she's one of 350 workers who are also scholarship recipients

Her work as a goat show student intern has shown her how much more happens here.

“I’ve been here all week, and I see how much work gets put on behind the scenes and what it takes to put the show on, and it is absolutely insane," she said.

White said she's still learning, and she's still appreciative of the many opportunities the rodeo has afforded her.

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