story by Ruth Nicolaus
Chesney Reeves is a cowgirl and a scientist. The eighteen-year-old, a member of the Nebraska High School Rodeo Association, competes in the barrel racing and pole bending. In her spare time, she studies dewormers and their efficiency in feedyard and pasture cattle.
Reeves, a senior at Central City High School, works with her high school science teacher Mrs. Chelle Gillan and a professor from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on her study of dewormers. She does her work at a local feedyard, writing the procedure, contacting the experts, compiling the statistics, writing the research paper, and doing the presentation. Partway through the project, she has already logged forty hours of work. And after she has collected and analyzed the data, she will compete at the regional science fair, then the State FFA agri-science fair. Last year, she won her division at the State FFA science fair.
When she takes off her science lab coat, she dons her cowboy hat and gets on her barrel and pole horse. Sully, a seven-year-old buckskin gelding, was purchased last summer. Chesney and Sully have built a solid relationship, she says. “He’s taught me a lot of things. I’ve learned to appreciate the highs and lows of rodeo through him.”
Sully is named after the Monsters, Inc. character, in part because he’s so big. He stands at sixteen hands, and he loves people. “He’s very in your pocket,” Chesney said. “He’s a lover, not your typical barrel horse. He’s very easygoing, which goes well with my personality because I’m calm, cool and collected most of the time. We blend well together.”
Chesney sold her old rodeo horse to purchase Sully; she trained Sully for the poles and finished his barrel seasoning.
In high school, she plays volleyball, is secretary for her school’s FFA chapter and president of her school’s National Honor Society chapter.
In her spare time, she works as a server’s assistant at a local winery.
For fun, she and her friends eat out at the local restaurants, drive around, or go to the Reeves’ river cabin on the Platte River, where Chesney makes sure s’mores are made.
She’s a chocoholic, loving anything made with chocolate. Hershey’s milk chocolate bars are her go-to candy, and her favorite dessert is anything with chocolate in it. The best dish her mom makes is potato salad, and Chesney loves strawberry lemonade to wash it all down.
She has been accepted at several colleges and is narrowing her choices. She plans on studying animal science but doesn’t plan on becoming a veterinarian. When she’s had a few months of college under her belt, she’ll decide if she wants to concentrate on a certain area of study.
Chesney competed at state finals in Hastings her freshman and sophomore years.
She has a younger sister, Logan, who is fifteen, and a younger brother, Lincoln, who is ten. She is the daughter of James and Katie Reeves.
