Leaving her home in tiny Buffalo, Ind., for Purdue University in the late ’80s was one of the hardest things Julie (Charles) Ramey had ever done.

“I grew up on my family’s farm and always loved the smell of mown hay,” says Ramey, the community relations manager for the award-winning Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department.

“Walking on plowed fields with my bare feet sinking into cool, black earth; jumping on my pony and riding through fields and back roads, only just making it home in time for dinner — I wanted that life for myself and, someday, for my family.”

She’s worked in Arizona and Ohio and volunteered as a firefighter in California, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Idaho. But she chose to raise a family in Indiana and take advantage of her Purdue degree in agricultural communication.

“I discovered in Purdue Agriculture a thriving community of students whose interests lay in natural resources, which wasn’t such a long way from the family farm after all. Purdue’s agricultural communication program was the perfect match between journalism and natural resources, and gave me the versatility to find satisfying jobs throughout the past 10 years.

“While at Purdue, I never pictured myself doing what I do as a career. Today I can honestly say I can’t picture myself doing anything else. I am part of a brilliant team of truly dedicated, creative, talented people who take a great deal of pride in being part of an award-winning organization.”