Few things in life seem to distract Amelia Hermann from her passion of riding horses — not after-school activities, not schoolwork, not sleep, not even some broken bones.

“She’s up at 6:30 every morning, goes to school, comes home, she’s on a horse,” mom Rashell Hermann says, as her daughter works on her roping skills at the family farm on Blue Mountain Road.

The work and dedication seems to be paying off for the Sequim teen: Earlier this year, the then eighth-grader at Sequim Middle School was Washington Junior High School Rodeo Association’s all-around state champion, breakaway state champion, reserve ribbon roping, reserve team roping and reserve goat tying in 2018.

She earned a spot on the Washington state National Junior High rodeo team and, consequently, chance to compete with her teammates at the 14th-annual National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Huron, South Dakota, in late June.

Competing against youths from across the nation and Canada, Mexico and Australia, Amelia competed in ribbon roping and team roping (with Nathan Clawson), goat-tying and what she considers her best event, breakaway. Hermann and Clawson took 18th in ribbon roping.

Not bad for someone who hasn’t yet had a high school class.

The byproduct of a (young) life of horse riding, Amelia was on horseback by the age of 2, Rashell says, but had broken her clavicle and arm by age 4.

“I thought I was going to ruin her,” Rashell says. “(But) she always liked to ride.”

Rather than be put off by the injuries, Amelia flourished. She began competing by age 6 in events like cal stake, dummy roping and goat-tying.

Now she’s putting in the hours in the arena in competitions — “Goldendale, Omak, all over,” Amelia says — and on the road, taking lessons with Brett Hale at Stick Horse Ranch in Tenino a couple of days per week.

“That’s the only thing about living on the peninsula,” Rashell says.

Still, Amelia hasn’t missed a day of school and earned just short of a perfect grade-point-average (3.83) in her most recent semester at SMS.

The work ethic, Rashell, is what sets Amelia apart, with plenty of chasing calves and roping and keeping horses in shape — “which a lot of young people don’t do,” Rashell notes.

The teenager even helps out with local high school equestrians, youths several years her senior.

“I think all the high school girls respect her pretty well,” Rashell said. “We’ve been doing this so long, our horsemanship skills are pretty decent.”

Rashell and Mike, Amelia’s parents moved to the Hermann property about four years ago; Rashell grew up on her family’s land on O’Brien Road and went to Port Angeles schools; Mike grew up just east and went to Sequim schools. Now they call the Hermann Brothers Logging & Construction, Inc., home base off Blue Mountain road, where the Hermanns have lived for more than a century.

And while other youngsters her age are interested in after-school things like dances and clubs, Amelia is content to be here with her horses and other teens with similar interests, Rashell says.

“I had to put a curfew (at 9 p.m.),” she says, “because she’d stay down here forever.”