Kate Herndon is one of the many students in UGA’s Block and Bridle club who are working to put on the Great Southland Stampede Rodeo this weekend.

This is the forty-fourth year that the club has put on the Great Southland Stampede rodeo, and Herndon says that the change of student leadership every year makes this rodeo all the more special.

“What makes this rodeo different is the fact that we can put on the rodeo for 44 years and have different leadership continuously, and just have everybody follow through. And we change a little bit every year, but we always try to make it better every year,” Hendon said.

And even rodeo professionals who were hired for the Great Southland Stampede agree that this kind of experience is vital for students wanting to get into the rodeo or veterinarian industry.

Austin Davis, a Rodeo pickup man and calf roper, is participating this year in the rodeo. Davis said, “It just gives everybody a different perspective of the different events in the horse industry and the cattle industry. The students do a great job here in Athens,”

The Great Southland Stampede Rodeo is the largest every year. This makes it even more spectacular given that it is a student ran campaign. The rodeo is not only the largest one for UGA. The Great Southland Stampede Rodeo is the International Professional Rodeo Association’s Top 5 Indoor Rodeo for the past 4 years.