"We like to bring people in, educate them about the sport and give them a good time with family entertainment,” Miss Michigan State Rodeo Queen 2015 Megan Mearing said.

This year’s Spartan Stampede is the 47th of its kind and is run by the MSU Rodeo Club.

Brian Nielsen is a professor for the Department of Animal Science, and works closely with the students in MSU Rodeo Club to put on this special event.

“We have about 40 club members in the rodeo club, not all of those compete in the rodeo club, but they all help with hosting this function,” Nielsen said. “The biggest and the best part of being involved in this is the organization and leadership skills that students develop from the learning process of the rodeo.”

The Spartan Stampede has been rated the “Indoor Rodeo of the Year” by the International Professional Rodeo Association for four years running.

“The fact that it is done by a student organization putting on this professional event with such great recognition is a testament to what these students have done," Nielsen said.

The rodeo is entirely student-run and includes four performances throughout the course of the weekend.

There are several events included in the rodeo, including bareback and saddle bronc bull riding, steer wrestling and team roping.

“For all of the rough stock events, the goal is to stay on the animal for eight seconds,” Nielsen said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. You wouldn’t think eight seconds sounds like a long time, but sometimes it can seem like forever or so.”

Aside from the rodeo, the Spartan Stampede included some community outreach events.

“We hold a jackpot barrel race on Thursday, and the proceeds from that will go to a local charity,” Rodeo Club vice president and animal science senior Morgan Bowers said.

The proceeds from the barrel race went to Helping Our Heroes, a charity based in East Lansing.

“Also on Friday morning, we will be holding a youth day," Bowers said. "Mainly elementary schoolers will come in and visit agricultural-based stations, such as milking cows. We will also put on a mock rodeo for them. It’s to teach them about the rodeo and get them excited.”

Tickets can be purchased from the Wharton Center box office, or at the door at the MSU Livestock Pavilion.

“This is how America was essentially founded,” animal science sophomore Hanna Menne said. “The cowboys, ranches and cattle built America, so this is a taste back into the old west and back into our history and our past.”