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Ruling the roost: WCCC student Travis Morris combines love for 4-H and carpentry

By Jeffrey Saulton 5 min read

Travis Morris, 19, a student at Washington County Career Center, has found a way to combine his training as a carpenter with his 4-H projects raising poultry, meat goat and beef cattle.

Morris began at the WCCC last year and has been active in 4-H for the past 12 years. He was home-schooled

Morris said family tradition is what got him interested in pursuing carpentry.

"My grandfather and his dad were carpenters so that is what got me interested in the program," he said. "My family is kind of a carpentry family."

His grandfather built a number of items and houses in the Newport area during the 1950s to the 1970s.

He is currently pursuing carpentry as a hobby.

"I want to learn a couple of other things also," he said.

Morris said the carpentry has been used in his other interests, showing poultry, beef and goats in the 4-H.

"I go to poultry shows and we make wood show boxes," he said. "That is kind of where my skills would come in, mostly at shows."

At the career center, Morris said he has learned more to help him refine skills he already had along with some new skills.

"There are some new skills I learned and some skills to refresh my mind a little bit," he said. "I knew a little bit about installing doors and windows and I know how to make things square using levels and other tools."

Morris started at WCCC at 18. At this time his plans do not include college, he said.

At the career center he is involved in Skills USA, where the students match the skills they have learned in a particular area against others on the regional, state and national level.

"It's a good thing to put on a resume, that your were in SkillsUSA," he said.

In the most recent competition where the students built a house, Morris said he placed fifth. He said each place in the compeitition was separated by one-and-a-half point to a half-point.

"It was a close competition," he said. "Our seniors got first, second and third. Actually I was at the top of my class."

Morris said they received feedback on their work in the competition.

"Mostly I need to work on my focus the most," he said. "Just focus more, I was told."

In the project house, he said that after the competition he went back and reinstalled the drywall where he did not do a good job.

Morris said he will learn a new technique in regard to exterior siding.

"We will use vertical siding rather than horizontal, which is very interesting," he said.

Morris said the house is being built at the career center. He said it is built so it can be split in half for transport.

"It has three bedrooms, a dining room, two bathrooms, about 60 feet long and 28 feet wide," he said.

While the house is a single-floor plan he said it is built to allow it to be placed over a basement. Morris said the house has been sold to Tony Huffman, an administrator of the career center.

"Originally nobody would buy the house but Huffman said he was thinking about having a house built so he decided to go ahead and buy it," he said.

Morris said the next project is under discussion, a building for Camp Hervida, but nothing has been set at this time.

Morris's other passion is showing poultry, meat goats and beef cattle in the 4-H program. He has been in 4-H since he was 6 years of age.

"I do the breeding and the artificial insemination," he said. "I get the semen from Oklahoma, Texas and Montanna for the cattle, I buy the goats locally and I raise the poultry on my own or buy them off breeders who have been in the business for several years."

In his 12 years in 4-H, Morris said he has raised 20-25 head of cattle and 30 goats. For poultry he has 30 but during hatching season he has approximately 400.

Morris said he was involved in the agriculture side of 4-H, but his main concentration has been in the animals. In poultry Morris has raised a grand champion.

"I've been on champion row a couple of times," he said. "I have been among the premiere exhibitors."

Morris said he has exhibited his animals at the Washington County Fair and the Barlow Fair.

"I went to my first state fair last year and showed," he said. "I brought home showmanship championships."

He said the coming year will be his last in 4-H and plans to be in Columbus for the state fair.

"I have my turkeys ordered for the 2024 Ohio State Fair," he said. "I showed turkeys and chickens at the fair. I show both the market and the fancy, which is a breeding chicken."

He said he has raised chickens ranging in size from the Jersey Giants to Bantam.

Jeffrey Saulton can be reached at jsaulton@newsandsentinel.com

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