Crowning Moment: South Dakota’s Callie Mueller named Miss Rodeo America
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Mueller, who lives in Florence, S.D., is a graduate of Dakota State University. Photo courtesy Mueller.
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Mueller will make appearances at rodeos and other events including parades as Miss Rodeo America. Photo courtesy Mueller
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The crowning moment: Callie Mueller (on the right) is crowned the 2025 Miss Rodeo America by Emma Cameron, the 2024 Miss Rodeo America. Photo courtesy Miss Rodeo America.
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Callie Mueller, after her coronation, on stage with the other rodeo queen candidates, at the Miss Rodeo America pageant in December. Photo courtesy Miss Rodeo America.
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Miss Rodeo South Dakota Callie Mueller was crowned the 2025 Miss Rodeo America in early December. Photo courtesy Miss Rodeo America.
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Callie Mueller, the 2025 Miss Rodeo America, with the saddle she won, with her parents, Sheila and Calvin Mueller, and her dog Zoey. Photo courtesy Mueller.
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Mueller showed quarter horses and participated in 4-H and FFA, all things that helped develop the skill sets she’ll use as Miss Rodeo America. Photo courtesy Mueller.
A South Dakota woman was crowned the 2025 Miss Rodeo America.
Callie Mueller, Miss Rodeo South Dakota 2024, won the crown on Dec. 8, following nine days of the Miss Rodeo America pageant in Las Vegas.
A native of Florence, S.D., Mueller grew up on a farm outside town, participating in 4-H and FFA activities.
She was “heavily active” in the Country Ramblers 4-H, participating for eleven years (an extra year, due to when her birthday falls), and FFA.
In 4-H, she showed horses, hogs, her dog, dairy cattle, did photography, baking, and arts and crafts. She participated in speech as well.
In FFA, as a student at Florence High School, she was part of horse judging and agri-science projects, including swirlology, research on human lungs, and horse judging, where, in 2017, she and teammates Allison Grygiel, Chantel Nelson Duerre and Evie Kahnke qualified for the National FFA competition. At that competition, she placed fifth individual overall and fourth individual in halter.
She never rodeoed, but showed in AQHA and in Pony of America shows. She can rope, but not competitively. “I do know how to rope but I wouldn’t put myself against Rickie Fanning or Shelby Meged,” she quipped.
After high school graduation in 2018, she attended South Dakota State University, planning on a pre-medicine degree. She changed her degree to elementary education and special education and transferred to Dakota State University in Madison, graduating in 2023 with a double major in elementary education and special education and a double minor in K-12 Reading and K-12 Technology.
But while at SDSU, a glance at a poster changed her world.
It was 2019, and as a freshman, she saw a poster asking for candidates to compete for Jack Rabbit Stampede Ambassador, similar to a rodeo queen role.
So she tried out, and won.
If she wouldn’t have seen the poster, her life wouldn’t be the same.
“It’s all so crazy when you see all the steps I’ve taken (to get where she is). If I hadn’t been doing the pre-med route, and if I hadn’t gone into the ag building, where the biology class was, I’d never have seen the poster.”
That was the start of her rodeo queen journey.
Since then, she’s held the title of 2020 Miss Black Hills Round-Up (Belle Fourche, S.D.); 2021 Miss Corn Palace Stampede (Mitchell, S.D.); 2022 Miss Days of ’76 (Deadwood, S.D.); 2023 Miss Watertown Pro Rodeo queen and 2024 Miss Rodeo South Dakota.
As a rodeo queen, her platform has been Faith over Fear. Mueller has had experience with the motto.
When she and her best friend Evie Kahnke were high school seniors, Kahnke was diagnosed with cancer and passed away.
“It was very hard on me,” Mueller said. “It was very traumatic. I was really in a low spot because my best friend just died, then I was going to college, had a shift of friends group, and wasn’t at home anymore.”
Mueller published a book this year entitled “Faith Over Fear,” a story of her childhood memories with Evie and how, after Evie passed, she put those words into action. “I had to have the realization of ‘Ok, Callie, you truly need to live this and put it forward in your life.'” The book also talks about how she got into rodeo queening.
She credits 4-H and FFA for helping her become a better rodeo queen.
“I did a lot of speeches,” she said, noting her high school FFA advisor Jim Chilson asked her to do radio and TV interviews for CDEs in FFA, and encouraged her to serve as an FFA district officer. “All of those interviews and leadership roles definitely pushed me,” she said. “The leadership, the socialization, of going out and promoting those organizations helped.”
Mueller often travels with her Pomeranian dog named Zoey. Dubbed the “rodeo queen puppy,” “everywhere I go, Zoey is not too far behind,” she said.
When she has spare time, she likes to be outside, hike, walk, trail ride, and be with family and friends.
She is the sixth South Dakotan to be crowned Miss Rodeo America. The women before her include Patricia Koren Sanmartin (1965); Donna Keffeler (1982); Leslie Patten White (1985); McKenzie Haley Vice (2011) and Jordan Tierney Santos (2019).
As she crisscrosses the country as the official representative of the PRCA, she will travel about 40,000 miles and appear at over 100 rodeo performances, as well as at schools, civic groups, and other special events.
She is excited for her year as Miss Rodeo America.
“I am looking forward to all the new experiences, the new rodeos, new friends, and new people,” she said. “I think that’s going to be so much fun.”
As Miss Rodeo America, she hopes to be able to fit South Dakota rodeos into her schedule. “I really want to come back to South Dakota and see the rodeos and committees I’ve made connections with,” she said. That “will be a complete full circle moment.”
Mueller has two brothers, Cody Skinner and Shane Skinner, and a sister, Alyssa Pahl.
She is the daughter of Calvin and Sheila Mueller.
Cutlines:
3 Callie held five rodeo queen titles before she was crowned the 2024 Miss Rodeo South Dakota, then the 2025 Miss Rodeo America. Photo courtesy Mueller.
