PAYSON — For rodeo cowboy Wes Silcox, setting goals led to his winning the national bull riding championship despite breaking his jaw just months earlier.
Silcox broke his jaw while riding a bull in the River City Roundup rodeo in Omaha last September, but went on to win the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association national bull riding championship in December.
The 22-year-old cowboy graduated from Payson High School in 2003. He had been competing as an amateur since he was a youngster, but became a permit-holding member of the PRCA as soon as he graduated from high school.
To become a card-carrying member, he had to win $1,000 in rodeo competition, which he did by his third professional rodeo.
Competing in Omaha, Silcox was bucked into the horns of the bull he was riding and broke his jaw. It had to be wired shut.
"I lost 15 pounds," he said.
He worked on gaining it back to his slim 5-foot8-inch frame by the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. His best asset was his ability to set and achieve goals, he told students at Taylor Elementary School in Payson during a Make-A-Wish assembly.
"Set small goals and achieve them. Then set new goals," he said.
Silcox began team roping at age 10. At age 16, while a junior in high school, he began riding bulls and took second in the state championships. He set a goal to take first place the next year, which he did.
Moving onto the PRCA, he came in eighth in 2005 and set a goal to take first place the next year. He came in second. Unrelentingly, he set his goal again and became the national bull riding champion just months after breaking his jaw.
Silcox spoke to the students after they broke several goals to raise a record $1,200 in March for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah. The students broke two previous records of less than $500 and had set a goal this year of $600. Their fund-raising efforts met that goal and they set a new goal of $800, which they also quickly achieved, said teacher Jenna Manookin, who coordinated the effort.
The students raised the money by buying paper Make-A-Wish stars for $1 on which they wrote their names and hung them in the school. A teacher matched what they raised and several parents also donated to achieve the final amount, Manookin said.
The money went toward helping a 5-year-old recipient, Skyller, of West Jordan get his wish of going to Disneyland with his family. The foundation doesn't release last names.
"I really enjoyed (helping Skyller) get his wish," said student Emily Paulson, 10.
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