Senior Jordan Cadle, huge science fair competitor and safe bet for valedictorian, is already setting his eyes towards the future. Cadle plans to continue his education in farm management at Purdue in West Lafayette or Ohio State in Columbus.

“Both colleges have well known schools of agriculture and are within a 4 hour driving distance so I can come home on the weekends and farm,” says Cadle.

Cadle has his plan of attack all set. He wants to farm on his family’s farm and put an emphasis on the livestock sector.

“In the plant sector, farmers are faced with whatever Mother Nature brings, whereas a livestock farmer has more control. Also, livestock farmers can get by with less land compared to grain farmers, which is a benefit since land is now going for over 5-10K an acre,” says Cadle.

Cadle is looking forward to college where he can study with people of his own caliber. While in college, he hopes to obtain a bachelors degree in a two or three year time frame.

He mainly wants to attend to better educate himself, despite not necessarily being able to apply this degree to his profession.

“As soon as I stop paying college tuition, the sooner I can start taking care of my own animals and stop paying others to do so to generate a positive cash flow,” said Cadle.

Some would think that an individual as smart as Cadle would opt to attend a private, more education-driven school instead of a public school. But this was not the case for him.

“I have no regrets about my high school career. I have enjoyed every single day,” said Cadle.

Cadle’s success has been well documented in his career at Paoli. From FFA to Science Fair, his name has been mentioned alongside ‘winner’ for a long time.

“The successes I have had in my FFA career development events and international science fairs are something to be proud of coming from a small, rural area,” said Cadle.

Story By Ron Compton