James Ardoin - Class of 1993
Jim grew up in Bordentown City with his parents Samuel & Susan (West) Ardoin. As a
student, Jim was heavily involved as a member of the concert, marching, and jazz bands, Varsity Baseball team, Engineering team, Math Club, Peer Support Group, National Honor Society, and was a two time Stokes HS Counselor. He volunteered in the community at the Trinity United Methodist Church and for the Bordentown CE/R summer swim program. He performed with the Mercer County College Community Band throughout his four years at BRHS.
student, Jim was heavily involved as a member of the concert, marching, and jazz bands, Varsity Baseball team, Engineering team, Math Club, Peer Support Group, National Honor Society, and was a two time Stokes HS Counselor. He volunteered in the community at the Trinity United Methodist Church and for the Bordentown CE/R summer swim program. He performed with the Mercer County College Community Band throughout his four years at BRHS.
After graduation, Jim continued his education at Stockton University earning a B.A. in both Biology and Education in 1997 and later earned an M.A. in Education from Marygrove College in 2009. Jim continued his service to the Bordentown area throughout his undergraduate years at Stockton as a substitute teacher at BRSD, a Bordentown Little League coach & manager of travel teams, a clinician for Bordentown Girls’ Softball/West Jersey Witches winter workouts. He was hired to teach swimming lessons, lifeguarding, CPR, and First Aid through the Bordentown CE/R summer swimming programs under the direction of Dr. Shirley Fisher from 1993-1999.
Jim began his teaching career splitting half of the 1997-98 school year between Pinelands Regional High School, Tuckerton, NJ and MacFarland Junior High School in Bordentown as a long term substitute. He was hired full-time at Pinelands Regional Junior High School in September of 1998 teaching seventh grade life science. Throughout the past twenty five years, Jim has created a classroom climate where students have the opportunity to grow and learn through combinations of differentiated instruction, collaborative group work, and direct instruction utilizing various technologies to support learning and help students master scientific concepts. Jim has taught a variety of classes and grade levels including Science 7 (Life Science), Science 8 (Earth Science/Conceptual Physics), Environmental Science, Biology, Biology II, Human Biology, Honors Anatomy & Physiology at PRJHS (1998-2019) and PRHS (1997-98, 2019-present).
In addition to his responsibilities in the classroom, Jim has been heavily involved in extracurricular sports and activities at Pinelands. Jim has held various coaching positions from 1997-2017 including Varsity & JV Baseball, Head Varsity Softball, 7/8 Softball, and Field Hockey. He had shared his love of music with students while volunteering with the JHS & HS bands and has performed in the pit orchestra of 25 Pinelands Thespians productions. Jim was an advisor for the Pinelands Pep Band (1999-2008) and the director of the Pinelands Community Jazz Band (2000-2003). He served as the assistant director of the Pinelands Experience (PRJHS version of Stokes) from 1999-2004 and was a founding member of the Pinelands Junior National Honor Society Faculty Council and served from 1999-2019.
In 2003, Jim worked collaboratively with colleagues to implement the Pinelands Wildcats In Action program and continued to participate in this character education initiative through 2010. In 2011, he was a founding member of the PRJHS Scheduling Collaborative tasked to research and develop a new academic schedule. In 2014, Jim was named the Pinelands Regional Junior High School Governor’s Award Teacher of the Year recipient. In 2015, he developed and continues to organize an innovative social media program to highlight student and staff achievement and improve communication between Pinelands, our sending districts, and the community. (The CAT EYE PRSD on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). In the spring of 2016, he helped establish a Pinelands Performing Arts Scholarship in coordination with Mr. Stephen Strouse (Choir Director) and the Brass Tacks Orchestra. In the fall of 2016, he was recognized as an NJEA/WIP/Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro Educator. In 2018, he helped found and serves as a trustee of the Pinelands Alumni & Friends Foundation to celebrate school history and raise money for student scholarships. During the pandemic of 2020 & 2021, Jim took his students on virtual field trips exploring NJ natural habitats with a variety of local scientists and historians while streaming on his phone on virtual days. In the Summer of 2021, Jim began serving on a committee to rehabilitate the Gifford Mill Branch stream bogs that flow through PRHS property in an attempt to utilize the bogs as outdoor learning space and introduce a new Honors Ecology course for Juniors and Seniors at PRHS for the 2022-23 school year.
Jim spent many summers (2003-2019) working for his in-law’s summer ice cream truck business driving a vintage 1967 Ford Good Humor Truck in Ship Bottom, Surf City, and Brant Breach on Long Beach Island, NJ. For the past two summers, he has worked at Pinelands as an instructional aide in the Extended School Year Autism Program and has worked for the Pinelands Technology department helping to process, catalog and install new technologies in classrooms in both district buildings.
Jim began his college teaching career as an adjunct professor in the Education department of Georgian Court University in the Summer of 2020. As a professor, he teaches science methods courses for early childhood, elementary, and secondary science teacher candidates as they prepare for their careers in the classroom.
Jim lives in Manahawkin, NJ with his wife Melissa (a Photography & Graphic Design teacher at Southern Regional High School) and has two amazing daughters Abby (16) and Molly (14). He has volunteered in his community through his daughters’ involvement in the Stafford Girls Softball League and the Southern Regional Band Parents Organization. He has continued his musical career playing saxophone professionally in several big band, jazz, dixieland, and rock n’ roll bands, and has been a long time member and current musical director of the Brass Tacks Orchestra.