Brooklyn Berg represented River Otter nation at the Montana Circuit Finals Rodeo while completing the dental hygiene program.
What is the circuit finals, for people that don’t know?
Making circuit finals has been always a big dream of mine and being able to do it while being in the Dental Hygiene program is pretty cool for me. It is the top 12 in the Montana circuit (in each discipline). I went to 17 rodeos over the summer (to earn points), and you have to be in the top 12.
So, it does take quite a bit. You got to win and be able to hang in there with the big girls. But it was pretty exciting when I saw that I got to make circuit finals here in Great Falls.
Do you consider yourself a professional athlete?
I don’t consider myself a professional athlete, but most people do. Like I, I am. I do pro rodeo, but I think there’s bigger things for me that I can achieve to become a professional athlete. But it is pretty cool when people say you’re a professional athlete, like it really doesn’t sink in until somebody says it.
Would you like to keep going through the ranks?
Absolutely. That is definitely a long-term goal to try and make it to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. That would be pretty cool.
Do your classmates know that you rodeo?
A lot of my classmates do know that I rodeo, and they’re all very excited to come watch me at the circuit finals.
You’re going to have a cheering section?
Yeah. And all the instructors are like, ‘We’re going to get a big bobblehead of you, and we’re going to have a whole dental hygiene section.’ So it’s pretty cool to have the support from all the other instructors.
Have you been competing the whole time you have been at Great Falls College?
When I got accepted out here, I kept my horse at home, and I really wanted to focus on school. And then in May, I brought my horse, Catman, out here. And during the summer semester I rodeoed all the way up until fall semester started.
So, you were rodeoing while going to school?
Yes, I definitely had to have some time management with rodeoing and being able to be in the dental hygiene program. Some rodeos, I wasn’t able to enter because we had a clinic on Friday. But getting up at the right times, I was able to go to quite a few rodeos, and it was a great experience to be able to go through this program and compete at rodeos.
So, tell us about your horse.
He is ten years old. He gives me 100% every time we compete. So we have a pretty cool bond. He doesn’t like many other people. He only likes my mom and I. My sister actually bought him and a couple of years later I bought him from her because he didn’t like her. But he loves me.
And he’s a pretty good athlete too?
Catman, he has won the Horse of the Year back home in the North Dakota Association, and that was pretty cool, being able to train a horse myself and with my sister… Recently, we have won quite a bit of money together, and he has pretty good lifetime earning right now.
And how did you find yourself at Great Falls College?
From when I was in high school, I have always known that I wanted to be a dental hygienist. So just looking out and finding different dental hygiene schools to apply to, and this is the one I got accepted to.
Why dental hygiene?
(Rodeo) is not just a hobby. It would be something to be awesome to do full time, but it’s also very expensive. So having a career that also has high pay and a flexible schedule for careers would be very helpful to continue my rodeo career.
What have you liked about Great Falls College?
Everybody is so helpful. Everybody just wants to help you and help you along the way and get you to your end, which is graduation and getting out into the workforce.