She decided the best place to be while making up her mind was working alongside her father in the shearing sheds.
Miss Keenan finished her final year as a boarder at St Hilda’s Collegiate last year. Her father John is a shearer working for Ranfurly-based contractor Jay Stringer.
"I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do after I finished school, so I thought it was best to go and get a fulltime job and earn some money while I figure out what the next step is."
The father-daughter duo have enjoyed the year working alongside each other in the sheds around Maniototo and into Strath Taieri.
"Dad and I have always got on well, it’s cool working with him each day."
Miss Keenan grew up around woolsheds.
"I wasn’t allowed to help out when I was a little kid in case I got kicked by a sheep or got too close to the handpiece. I would just play with the farmers’ kids all day which was all right by me."
As a teenager she was taught how to rousie by her mother Megan and spent school holidays working in the sheds. "Mum was a hard taskmaster, she made sure I knew how to do it right. It has paid off now though, as I have found myself teaching other people which seems pretty crazy."
Often working seven days a week through a busy prelamb season, the early morning starts were initially hard to get used to. "My body clock has adjusted now and it’s not too hard getting out of bed."
Mr Keenan was "pretty chuffed" to see his daughter get amongst the hard work and capitalise on the good money on offer. As a rousie, she was earning more than $33 per hour.
"Not bad for someone just out of school," he said.
Saving money was easy while living at home and Miss Keenan planned to head to Australia in October to visit her friend and would likely find work in a shed over there.
"I never really considered it an option to become a shearer myself, but I am becoming more open to the idea. Wool classing is another option I have thought about too," she said.
For Mr Keenan, shearing has been a good lifelong career. Leaving school at the age of 16, he learnt how to use a handpiece "and I have done it ever since".
The income he had made had gone a long way towards paying for their three children to attend boarding school.
"When the pay rise came in for shearers, that helped things out quite a bit for us."
At the age of 57, Mr Keenan could still shear 200 sheep in a day, and reckoned he had a bit left in the tank yet. He hoped to see more young people keen to enter the industry.
"We need more young ones coming through. There is good money to be made if you have the ticker for it," he said.
By Alice Scott
