Austin Val Verde Foundation

The Austin Val Verde Estate and Foundation...

Conor Keegan, Master of Ceremony

Activities, Awards, & Honors

A.P.A. Master Exhibitor Other Jan, 2001 Master Exhibitor #528. This award was presented for achieving 111 points at American Poultry Association meets with Black Rosecomb Bantams.
American FFA degree Academic Nov, 1999 This is an honor that 0.05 percent of the total FFA membership ever receives this award.
Maxwell Scholarship for Bio. Academic Nov, 2006 This scholarship was awarded to finance my research at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in systematics.
Saturdaze Scholarship Academic Jul, 2007 This Scholarship was awarded for Natural History Research.
Specialty Animal Production Academic Mar, 1998 This award was presented for the 1998-99 academic year. It was presented for my achievements in the production of birds.

Extracurricular Activities

A.P.A. & A.B.A. Exhibitor 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, After 12th: 9 years 15 52 Conditioning, handling and showing my domestic poultry.
A.P.A. Judges Apprentice After 12th: 2 years 12 10 This is a two year program that must be completed before one can take the final exams. I am scheduled to take my final exams in the next few months.
AKC Exhibitor 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, After 12th: 9 years 20 20 I have shown my Staffordshire Bull Terriers to 12 AKC Championships.
CGBA Board of Directors 12th, After 12th: 2 years 6 13 I served as the youngest California Game Bird Breeders Association Director.
Varsity/Intramural Soccer 9th, 10th, 11th, After 12th: 8 years 5 45 In High School I played Varsity Soccer. Since High School graduation I have played on Intramural teams.

Community Service

4-H Volunteer Judge 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, After 12th: 3 years 12 3 I have been a volunteer 4-H Poultry and Showmanship Judge.
Valley Haven Fundraiser After 12th: 4 years 10 1 Donated my time for a fundraiser dinner for a local Senior daycare center.
Ventura County Fair Volunteer 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, After 12th: 8 years 30 2 Worked as a volunteer organizing and clerking for the Small Livestock Department.

Work Experience

Assistant Chef After 12th: 2 years Jun 1998 - Dec 2001 40 year–round I was responsible for preparing and cooking Italian cuisine.
Austin Val Verde Foundation After 12th: 2 years Aug 2006 - Nov 2007 32 year–round Team member for various educational programs which involves: planning, writing and hosting.
Server After 12th: 5 years Jun 2001 - Aug 2006 30 year–round Waiting tables at two fine dinning restaurants.

Personal Statement

My desired major is Avian Science. My passion for aviculture and birds in general began nearly twenty years ago, at the age of seven. It has to be a passion as it is more than just a slight interest. My fiancée, now wife, lives with brooders in our dining room, my garden is filled with bird enclosures and my weekends are spent at poultry and livestock shows. I am happiest when I am working with, breeding, exhibiting and studying, or visiting with a friend while we talk about birds.

My interest in raising birds grew from the stories that my grandfather would tell me of the livestock that he kept and raised as a young man growing up during the Depression Era in Ohio. These stories fueled my imagination for the day I would raise the same livestock that my grandfather had spoken about so passionately. My parents, although a little concerned about my new interest as we lived in the city, indulged my curiosity; and so, when I was seven years old I received my first pair of white doves and a breeding pair of Birmingham Roller pigeon. Birmingham Rollers were the same breed of pigeon that my grandfather would tell me stories about their aerobatic routines of flipping and spinning while in flight. And so it began, I was forever known by my family and friends as the “bird man.”

With my introduction to poultry came the thrill of showing the birds I raised at competitions. I competed at local and national shows with chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pheasants, quails, doves and even a few francolins. I began as a member of the Future Farmers of America organization and was the recipient of the American Farmer Degree along with the California State Specialty Animal Production Award. I have served on the Board of Director and as a show superintendent at poultry and pheasant shows. I also competed in parliamentary procedures where I learned many skills, but most importantly, the necessity of team work and the skill of compromise.

Shows brought me into contact with many knowledgeable livestock judges and allowed me time to visit with them, as I had done so with my grandfather. They encouraged me to pursue my own license for judging poultry. After many years of volunteering my time judging 4-H and youth shows, I entered the Apprentice Judging Program with the American Poultry Association (A.P.A.) and anticipate becoming licensed to judge all breeds and species recognized by the A.P.A. within the next few months.

My formative years of practical experience and growing relationships with other enthusiasts have brought me unexpected opportunities to share my knowledge. It has become common for me to receive correspondence from novices and experts alike. Over the last two years I have been helping author Michael Roberts of Devon, England compile information for two new pheasant books; Modern Pheasant Rearing and Ornamental Pheasants for Beginners. I hope to one day author books based on my own contributions to aviculture.

Currently, I am designing and directing an aviculture preservation project with the Austin Val Verde Foundation in Santa Barbara, California. It will establish a strong captive breeding program for endangered species of pheasants and other birds. Our goals are to maintain genetic diversity and study behaviors in environmentally enriched enclosures. All of the information gathered will be documented in order to aid studies in the wild.

I am forever learning something new and a degree in avian science will add to all current experiences and open doors for me as a professional. However, if I had to choose one thing that I have learned from my involvement with livestock that is to be, in every respect, altruistic. Prompt #2 One area of biology that I have always found interesting is the classification of species, known as systematics. I have dreamed of doing research in the field of systematics with the genus phasianus and had wanted to gain experience with biological procedures before formulating questions in the area of avian systematics. The opportunity to gain experience in the field of systematics presented itself in not quite the area of zoology that I thought I would find myself conducting research. Invertebrate zoology was never my favorite subject. Hence, my application is not for entomology. However strange it may seem for a bird person to be researching beetles, Histerids is what I have been researching for the past year.

One year ago this month, I was approached by my cellular biology professor and asked if I would like to learn how to operate a scanning electron microscope at the Museum of Natural History in Santa Barbara. He said that it would be a tool that would come in handy in my future research. I jumped at the idea. Shortly thereafter, I applied for the Maxwell Scholarship for Biological students and received financial support for my research. I was also awarded a scholarship for my research from the 2007 Saturdaze Scholarship for Natural History Research.

I utilized the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Scanning Electron Microscope (S.E.M.) for the task of imaging the specimens. I have imaged over fifty (50) individual specimens thus far. I was trained in the operation of the SEM by both Dr. Michael Caterino and under the expert guidance of Daniel L. Geiger, Ph.D., the Research Curator of the Electron Microscopy. The S.E.M. allows us to see and study incredibly small characteristics of the beetles with great clarity and resolution. These characteristics are then compared to other histerid beetles. By comparing these characteristics, we are given great insight into the evolution and taxonomical relations of the different species.

This experience in research is very important to me, because I believe the procedures I have learned over the past year: the research method, using the Scanning Electron Microscope, and working with systematics, will apply to virtually all my projects in the future. These skills will definitely contribute to reaching my professional and academic goals of turning my passion for aviculture into a profession, because it is literally supplying me with the tools to accomplish them.

Additional Comments

In my time spent at Santa Barbara City College I have done as many college students do and changed my major and area of desired studies. I began college working towards a degree in business. When it became clear to me that science was my passion, I switched to biological sciences. Unfortunately these two areas did not overlap in coursework and it has taken extra semesters to complete the required science courses to transfer to a University.

I also have been primarily a part-time student during my college years. My necessity for part-time school work has been because I have funded all of my college expenses independently by working from part to full time over the years. I have not been aided by school loans or assistance from relatives. Although, I do plan on and look forward to being a full-time student once accepted at UC Davis.

Along with funding my own schooling, I have also have supported my wife through her academic career. She has recently completed her Doctorate and Licensure in Physical Therapy. With her career being established, it is my turn to focus full-time on my academic career.