DAPHNE, Alabama - The kindergarteners at Bayside Academy in Daphne did not go to the rodeo Wednesday. Instead, as part of their annual Wild West Week, the rodeo and professional cowboy Kyle Irwin came to them.

Or close enough. About 36 five-and-six-year-old students walked, or rather rode their broomstick horses, to May Day Park about a block from the campus to meet Irwin and his fellow cowboys Quinn Campbell and Hunter Bemis.

“We’ve been doing this for 10 years now and I think having the kids see and hear about this part of what cowboys do — especially with horses and even getting to touch the horses and ride — adds a lot to the experience,” said Bayside kindergarten teacher Lisa Wells, who created the annual program and who brought in real cowboys and horses a few years ago including Irwin, a Robertsdale native son and a collegiate champion in steer wrestling. “Kyle was the first cowboy brought in and he always does a great job with the kids. But I guess the horses kind of steal the show for the kids, too,” she added.

Wells and her teaching colleagues Karen LeBlanc and Ann-Marie Cook comprise the kindergarten faculty and spend the week decorating their classrooms in western themes, making toys and tools relevant to the culture and studying the history.

“We learn about the cowboys and cowgirls and rodeos,” said LeBlanc who has been involved for seven years. “We learn how to square dance and practice how to barrel race and how to pan for gold. We also make stick horses or a sock horse for fun. In fact they rode their stick horses here from school. Now we’re celebrating with the parents and some grandparents all that we have learned and will learn today. This is the big culminating event when they get to meet the real cowboys and learn about their horses and maybe get to ride their horses and maybe even learn how to lasso.”

Irwin, 22, grew up around horses and ranches as well as the culture of rodeo. He competed in the state high school association for Robertsdale High and won state titles and a college scholarship as well as many other amateur championships around the region and country.

Campbell, Irwin’s cousin has been a pro champion cowboy since the 1990’s. Bemis is following in their boot steps working and literally learning the rodeo ropes. Irwin recently returned to Baldwin County after a successful 10-week, pro-rodeo-hopping tour, the most intense of his career.

But volunteering for educational events like Wild West Week is something he always looks forward to.

“Working with kids this age is a lot fun,” he said. “Been doing this a couple of years. They are all so excited about learning and it feels good to be able to share something with them that you know a lot about, but that they may just hear about on TV. A lot of kids never get to be around horses that much or get to pet a horse or ride one or really learn about all the things we still need horses for. Rodeo is something that takes some background to learn and then a lot of time and dedication to pursue. But at this age, they are just having fun and learning by just being exposed and seeing up close things like their shoes and why horses even need shoes like that and things like branding, too. It’s kind of humbling, too, you might say to get a chance to maybe make somebody’s day. But I really enjoy it.”

With his last collegiate season of eligibility for Northwestern Oklahoma State University over this past June, he ventured into the pro circuit basically working his way back home while earning a living as well as credits to qualify for bigger events in the future.

“It was an adventure,” he said. “I competed in 58 different rodeos in 17 different states. I started out with about $800 in my pocket and ended up winning almost $40,000 in prize money. Of course with expenses on the road like that I maybe netted 15-to-20. Still that’s pretty good money for 10 weeks work. But most of all I qualified for some big rodeos in Houston, San Antonio and Denver coming up in 2013. Came close to within a hand’s reach of qualifying for the really big rodeo, the Wrangler National Finals in Las Vegas. But still I got a lot of good experience and proved to myself I can do it and I know this is what I want to do.”

Before bringing out the stars, the horses Rex and Rock, Irwin showed the students a few lessons with the lasso and talked about why cowboys and cowgirls still need to rope calves and steers out on large range lands and in stock yards.

“Sometimes they just need to be checked on and sometimes you have to give them medicine,” he said to the classes.

Irwin plans to be back in the saddle, professionally, in January for the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver.

He then plans to compete on weekends while finishing his final semester at NOSU in the spring. Then back to the full-time pro circuit.