Classic western films have painted an image of the rough and tumble cowboy busking through the American Southwest. The sturdy man sits upon his horse with a stoic outer demeanor. A cigarette rests loosely between his lips as his eyes squint from the setting sun’s bright rays. With his face clouded with stubble he looks back, says something remarkable, and rides off as the credits roll. Ryan Roggasch is the living embodiment of this character.
Roggasch, 20, is a well-to-do student at Northeast Community College. Currently he holds the position of president for the Student Government as well as a past member of the RA/SA team for the campus dorms. He was elected into position by the students and he has thus remained a voice for them. He truly enjoys what he does and says, “I want to help people more. Everyone is completely different and everyone needs help, but not in the same way. And that’s why I love people so much because people are so different.”
Aside from helping his fellow students succeed, Roggasch has future goals for himself. Currently he’s mulling over several options which lean towards becoming either a History or an English teacher, but for now he’s simply finishing up his generals before making the next leap forward.
School takes up a great deal of his time, but hobbies are still important to Roggasch. He is an avid poet and writer and has a great passion for it.
“I wana hit the page so hard that you feel it when you read it. Sometimes I can grab that, sometimes I can’t, but I think all writers have that problem.”
In the past he has written and read his works aloud at the school as well as submitting great amounts of poetry to Northeast’s “Voices Out of Nowhere”. Mainly, he writes for himself, but he still holds aspirations for getting his works into mainstream circulation.
Apart from school, Roggasch is big into family, legacy and tradition. Coming from a small town nestled in the cleavage of Nebraska’s dusty sand hills; Roggasch was born and raised as the 4th generation heir to his father’s cattle ranch. He, along with his 2 brothers, lived out their younger days learning the trade of rustling. This time instilled within him deep family ties which still holds strong for keeping the name alive.
“It’s [ranching] in my blood. Basically this land belonged to my family before it really belonged to any one person.” Roggasch says, “There’s this drive to keep it in the family and keep the name going on the land.”
Technology is something not to be desired by Roggasch. While he believes that things like cell phones and the internet are wonderful inventions of mankind, he has a distaste for them. Roggasch feels that communicating through these kinds of devices can hurt face to face interaction and the quality of the conversation.
“No one’s legit, and I don’t know if they ever were.” Roggasch goes on to say, “Not that I’m legit, but I try to be. But I want people to know who I am from inside, and not just what I am from the outside.”
Roggasch still visits home when given the opportunity. He slips on his boots, and prepares for the day ahead; helping his family with the family ranch. He slips back into the groove as if he’s never left. Aided by his horse Baron, Roggasch maintains his own herd of cattle. He believes that there are things to ranching that nobody can understand until they’ve experienced it first hand. The hills surrounding his families homestead is where he feels most at home.
“Sometimes when I’m back I take my Jeep out into the hills and just sit there and be completely quiet. It’s my meditation,” says Roggasch.