LITTLE EGG HARBOR – When James Ardoin tells students the bogs behind Pinelands Regional High School, he is teaching far more than science. He is helping them understand how the wetlands, forests and waterways surrounding their community shape the future of the Pine Barrens and Barnegat Bay.
The longtime educator was recently named Pinelands Regional High School’s 2026 Teacher of the Year, recognition that comes as his “From the Barrens to the Bay” ecology program continues expanding into one of the most hands-on environmental education initiatives in the region.
“I am truly honored to be recognized again as a Pinelands Teacher of the Year,” Ardoin said. “I was recognized as the Junior High School Teacher of the Year in 2014, and being named High School Teacher of the Year this year is very humbling.”
What began as a single honors ecology course following the COVID shutdown has grown into a districtwide environmental effort involving field research, water quality monitoring, community gardens, climate change initiatives and large-scale restoration projects tied directly to the school property.
During a recent presentation to the Pinelands Regional Board of Education, Ardoin explained that the program was built around helping students develop a meaningful connection to the environment around them. “We only protect what we love, we only love what we understand, and we only understand what we’re taught,” Ardoin said.
The “Barrens to the Bay” program focuses on three central goals: discovery, stewardship and communication. Students are encouraged not only to study local ecosystems, but also to help improve and protect them while sharing what they learn with others.
Ardoin said the Pinelands Regional campus provides opportunities few schools anywhere in New Jersey can match. The property includes bogs, wetlands, wooded trails and freshwater streams that connect to the Tuckerton Creek watershed and eventually Barnegat Bay.
“We’ve been blessed with a campus that is huge with some amazing features that no other school in this state has,” Ardoin told those who attended the May board meeting.
Ardoin narrated a slide presentation that highlighted the Giffords Mill Branch Bogs, a freshwater stream and wetland system flowing from Bass River State Forest through school property before ultimately reaching Barnegat Bay. Students regularly conduct water testing, ecological monitoring and restoration activities throughout the area while learning about the broader Pine Barrens ecosystem.
Board members learned how the program has expanded rapidly since launching during the 2022-23 school year. What started with one honors ecology course has since evolved into multiple levels of ecology instruction, revised environmental science curriculum and stewardship projects involving students at both the high school and junior high school.
Students in the program interact with professionals from organizations including Rutgers University, Stockton University, the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Barnegat Bay Partnership and the Ocean County Soil Conservation District. Ardoin said one of the goals is helping students understand that environmental science is not just something found in textbooks, but a field involving real careers and real-world problem solving happening in their own backyard.
The district’s environmental efforts have also attracted attention from state agencies. Representatives from the New Jersey Department of Education’s Climate Change Grant program visited the district in April to observe projects associated with the second year of Pinelands Regional’s climate initiatives. Visitors toured the junior high greenhouse and gardens before exploring the high school bog areas after hearing presentations from Ardoin, Dr. Kimberly Clark and students during statewide environmental conferences earlier this year.
One of the most significant projects now tied to the program involves a nearly $1.4 million environmental restoration grant announced by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
According to the DEP, the Green Trust Alliance received a $1,389,793 grant to transform an outdated detention basin at Pinelands Regional High School into a multi-functional stormwater management system designed to improve water flow and water quality benefiting Tuckerton Creek and the Barnegat Bay watershed. The project will be managed by the Green Trust Alliance and GreenVest and will include educational opportunities for both students and the public.
Ardoin said attending a recent coastal resilience conference gave him the opportunity to connect with professionals working on similar environmental restoration efforts throughout New Jersey.
“My name tag said Jim Ardoin, teacher,” he said. “So, I was like the unicorn of the conference at that moment.” He said conference attendees quickly became interested when they learned students were helping study and restore nearly 40 acres of bog habitat directly behind the school.
The environmental initiatives extend well beyond a single classroom. Ardoin said the Pinelands Green Team includes teachers, administrators, students and community members who meet monthly to discuss environmental projects and sustainability efforts both on campus and throughout the surrounding community. Little Egg Harbor Recreation Director Kathy Tucker and members of the township Environmental Commission regularly participate in meetings and activities.
Ardoin repeatedly emphasized that the program’s success depends heavily on collaboration and community support. “We are so lucky to have Harry & Laura Cross donating their time and talents to enrich our JHS Gardens projects,” he said. “The project just wouldn’t be the same without their input, guidance, and support.”
He also praised the junior high science staff for integrating the gardens into classroom activities and credited teacher Alex Henderson for developing curriculum associated with the district’s climate change grants.
Ardoin reserved special praise for Dr. Kimberly Clark now the acting superintendent, saying many of the district’s environmental initiatives would not exist without her support and grant writing efforts.
“Much of what you see in and around the BOGS & Green Team projects is truly attributed to her allowing me to accomplish what I’m capable of,” Ardoin said. “Her trust as well as her grant writing abilities that fund our crazy ideas have created a synergy between us and the outcomes have created meaningful experiences that benefit our students and community.”
Students also help maintain the junior high school gardens established through a separate $90,000 climate change grant initiative. They grow plants from seed, transplant vegetables and flowers into the gardens and help maintain harvests that are shared with community members and local food banks.
“The eighth-grade students last year designed where we were going to put all those things,” Ardoin said during his board presentation.
The slideshow presented to the board also highlighted stewardship projects ranging from bog cleanups and dune grass planting in Ship Bottom to ecological monitoring, environmental presentations and student participation in regional climate initiatives.
For Ardoin, the work ultimately comes back to helping students see themselves as part of the story of the Pine Barrens and Barnegat Bay. “If you create a compelling story that your community can tell together,” he said, “people will see themselves as necessary characters.”
