Cameron Rinker is taking on his last year of school at Blackford High School in Hartford City, Indiana, this month, but a normal day for Cameron is anything but average.
Cameron and his family farm southeast from the town of Hartford City, and they raise a variety of crops and animals.
“We raise corn and soybeans with a few head of cattle, and we dabble with a little cover cropping when we can,” said Cameron
Farming isn’t anything new to Cameron. In fact, he’s been helping out since he was a child.
“I’ve been helping farm since I could remember. I remember driving the tractor when I was 5 and I’ve helped ever since,” said Cameron.
And helping ever since is no exaggeration. A typical day for Cameron can start as early as 2:30 a.m. during the week.
“A couple days out of the year, the hog barn I work at gets baby pigs in, so I wake up around 2:30 a.m. and get there at 3:30 a.m. to help with that then go to school,” Cameron said. “School starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. After, I go to two practices because I dual sport in the fall, then I go home around 6:00 p.m. and help out with whatever needs to be done.”
“Whatever needs to be done” can be anything from feeding the cows, hauling or stacking hay, or mowing the lawn.
“Some days, I’ll clean the shop or maintenance the mowers or grease something just to keep myself busy because I miss being around the farm when school hits,” said Cameron. “Then around fall time, I’ll get the combine out after practices and work on it until 10 or 11 at night, then go home and do homework if it needs to be done. When I have games or matches, I’ll check in with dad to see what needs to be done because he takes care of things when I’m gone. It all depends on the season really. Planting time, it’ll be the same procedure or I’ll be out even later, but in a normal night, I’ll be home around 8 p.m.”
Balancing his time between school, after-school activities and helping out on the farm can be a little difficult at times for Cameron.
“It gets to be a lot sometimes, especially when you do sports, FFA and National Honor Society,” said Cameron. “Whenever I can be at the farm helping, I usually am.”
Luckily, Blackford High School offers classes that teach Cameron skills he can apply to the farm as well.
“The school I go to offers ag classes for us, and I take any plant class I can because I like to learn about the corn and beans and the diseases that they could get,” said Cameron. “Along with those classes, I get to work in the greenhouse. They also have animal science classes, and I also learn a lot from working with pigs with the neighbors and cattle at the farm.”
After Cameron wraps up the school year, he plans on attending Purdue University next fall to study electrical engineering on the agriculture side to help design farm equipment.
Drive Your Tractor to School Day