Tilling His Way Forward
By Nancy Duplechain
Ville Platte Gazette
Brian James “B.J.” Ardoin, Jr. has just made history for Evangeline Parish. He is the first Evangeline Parish native to be admitted to the USDA/1890 National Scholars Program. The program aims to increase the number of students studying agriculture, food, natural resource sciences, and other agriculture-related disciplines.
“B.J.” is a junior in the fall at Southern University A&M. He has his sights set on Washington D.C., but his roots are in rural Louisiana with a long history of farming. “I’ve always been a part of agriculture my whole life. My family has a lot of land, and we were part of it for a long time. I’ve always wanted to be part of the business side, though.” Ardoin was in 4-H when he was younger and was in Agro-Youth in St. Landry Parish, which was designed to introduce urban kids to agriculture.”