Adam Williams was 5 the first time he rode a tractor, helping his father haul hay on the family farm in Sholas, Ind.

His mother was less than amused.

“Mom threw a fit,” Williams said. “But she figured it would be a fact of life.”

His mom was right. It was agriculture that brought Williams, a senior, to Western from the small farming town.

Williams wasn’t always sure what he wanted to major in. But he found his career path at Vincennes University in Indiana, where he attended after high school.

He graduated from Vincennes in 2002 with an associate’s degree in agribusiness.

“I asked, ‘What have I done all my life?'” Williams said. “Once I took the classes, I just stayed with it.”

He enrolled at Western in fall 2002. Still, he is uncertain of where a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness will lead him.

“I’d love to go back home and be a full-time farmer with my dad,” Williams said. “But we’re not near big enough to do that.”

Williams is also interested in field work, such as farming equipment sales. But mostly he wants to spend as little time indoors as possible.

“I can’t be cooped up in an office,” he said. “It’d eat me alive.”

Williams said agriculture has also taught him a decent work ethic. Growing up on a farm has taught him that you only get out what you put in.

“When I’m at school I feel like a bum,” he said. “Because I have no job.”

He also said he loves Western and Bowling Green, though both offer a different atmosphere than his small-town past.

“I fit in perfect down here,” Williams said. “I couldn’t have asked for a nicer campus.”

Williams still manages to find time to travel home. While agriculture brought him to Bowling Green, it also takes him back to Indiana. Williams is co-president of the Young Farmers Group in Sholas. It is associated with the Farm Bureau.

“We basically work (to create) more agriculture scholarships for high school students, and we also help with 4-H,” Williams said.

Williams admits that his involvement in agriculture keeps him busy – sometimes more than he’d like. But he said the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said.

Reach Adriane Hardin at [email protected].