Gigante wins scholarship

Joseph Gigante of Andover was awarded the Sussex County Board of Agriculture Gracie’s Scholarship on June 23.

He was active in the Newton High School Future Farmers of America (FFA), the Top O’Jersey Beef 4-H Club and the National Junior Hereford Association.

Gigante plans to become a livestock veterinarian. He has been accepted into Ramapo College’s pre-vet track.

He started his own poultry farm on his parents’ farm in Andover, raising and selling more than 10,000 chickens this year. His business was named one of the top seven hatcheries in the New Jersey in January.

Gigante spearheaded a program at Newton High School that became part of the FFA curriculum. The FFA built a chicken coop for a flock of birds at the school and sold eggs to help fund its activities and teach students how to care for chickens.

Gigante also raised beef cattle in the Top O’Jersey Beef 4-H Club. He took his cows to shows in Wisconsin and Nebraska and now is raising calves for the market.

“I plan on attending college to become a large animal vet. I will continue to grow our farm and build my future. I plan on opening a practice in Sussex County,” he said.

The Board of Agriculture awards Gracie’s Scholarship every year to a student whose agricultural ambitions match Grace Honigsberg’s and her love of agriculture.

Honigsberg, a member of the county Board of Agriculture and New Jersey Farm Bureau, died in 2022 of injuries from a near-fatal accident three years earlier.