by Aaron Ross, assistant editor
Raising one’s own turkeys, being captain of the swim team and researching popping sorghum are not generally considered to be in the same field of interest.
Regardless, senior Travis Rooney pursues all of these activities, making him one of the busiest and most diverse students around.
A day in the life of Rooney doesn’t look like a typical high school student’s schedule. Here’s how a typical day goes for him:
5 a.m.: Wake up, check on the turkeys. Clean them and give them food and water.
6 a.m.: Swim practice–either swimming or lifting weights.
7:30-8:10 a.m.: Return home to check on the birds again, eat breakfast and then leave for school.
8:20-3:45 p.m.: School–for a few hours, Rooney’s schedule looks pretty standard.
3:45-5:30: Stay at school to work on homework or help others with their work, then off to swim practice.
7:45 p.m.: Leaving the pool to head home. After that, he checks on the birds, eats dinner and goes to bed.
Rooney’s free time goes mostly to swimming–he spends around 20 hours a week in the water. While Rooney says he isn’t the most “hyped” individual on the swim team, that does not stop him from leading the swim team before every meet in morale.
“I’m team captain so I try to motivate people, lead by example and work hard every day.” Rooney said. “We’ve done pretty well this season, but we still have some work to do.”
Any time not devoted to swimming Rooney spends raising his turkeys for 4-H. For over ten years, Rooney has raised turkeys to compete with in shows.
“I’m going to be showing them in the San Antonio, Austin and Houston livestock shows,” Rooney said. “You show one bird, a judge judges them and you get placed. If you get placed high enough, you go to a premium auction and they bid for your bird.”
Rooney went on to talk about how it was hard to get attached to the birds.
“You get a new set of birds each year and we eat them,” Rooney said. “Sometimes we keep two or three as pets, and when their legs give out, we have turkey jerky.”
Despite his love for raising turkeys, Rooney plans to go to Texas A&M to pursue greener careers.
“I’m going to major in genetics, and I might minor in biochemistry,” Rooney said.
With plans to obtain a Ph.D. related to plant research, Rooney been preparing for his future research career for years. Last year, he placed in first at FFA’s National Agriscience Fair competition in the plant systems category for his research paper entitled “Genotype and Environment Effects on the Popping Characteristics of Grain Sorghum.”
“For the first year was determining the effect genotype had on it, so eight different genotypes were grown in the trial fields at A&M. I found that genotype had a significant effect, and from there I asked ‘What’s the environmental effect’ and so they were grown in four different locations across Texas,” Rooney said. “That’s been going on for two years and now I have another extension for it. I’m testing the heritability of popping characteristics.”
Rooney went on to say that his brothers, father and grandfather all had huge influences on him by interesting him in swimming when he was young and helping him become interested in field research.
“I wouldn’t have been in FFA if it weren’t for my older brothers,” Rooney said. “My grandpa was a research professor, and my dad is also a research professor at A&M.”
