When the LSU AgCenter Extension in New Iberia opened a position to head up the local 4-H program, Natchitoches Parish native Josh Fredieu took the opportunity to get back to what he loved as a child.

Fredieu, 27, said he never expected to be selected for the 4-H directing job, at the time he was in the medical field in Opelousas.

“I saw this position advertised and didn’t think a whole lot of it because I didn’t have a traditional background in agriculture,” he said.

Josh Fredieu, 27, has been the local 4-H program director since January of 2008. He has since used his own childhood experience with 4-H to form a bond with the more than 1,000 Iberia Parish youngster participants. Jessica Goff / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

He received his degree in exercise science from Northwestern State University and worked in a hospital with children suffering from sleep apnea.

But 2008, the same year the Louisiana 4-H program celebrated its 100-year anniversary, Fredieu moved to New Iberia to take the directing position.

Blair Hebert is an LSU AgCenter agent and Fredieu’s supervisor. He said Fredieu’s medical education adds something different to the program.

“He is unique in that his degree background is not of a typical 4-H agent,” Hebert said. “It’s allowed for him to maybe use that knowledge he has. Yet he definitely embraces the traditional ongoing aspect of the Iberia 4-H program, and we are proud of that.”

Growing up in Clarence, which is a town of 500 people in Northwest Louisiana, Fredieu and his younger brother got their start in 4-H raising hogs. He admits when they began the program they were a little “green” on their knowledge of raising livestock.

“One of my dad’s friends got us into doing it,” he said. “We got our first couple of pigs and we named them and we’d go out there and feed them marshmallows, you know? We didn’t really know what we were doing.”

The hogs, George and Claire, grew in size and Fredieu said even his mother, a kindergarten teacher, grew attached to the swine.

“Then it came around time to get rid of them,” he said. “It wasn’t that bad on me, but my mom took it pretty hard. She wouldn’t eat the meat or anything. So there was no more naming the pigs after that.”

Fredieu said there are 1,100 children enrolled in 4-H in Iberia Parish. The program’s mission is to focus on youth development through “head, heart, hands, and health.”

Fredieu said the program’s broad diversity in technology, science and agriculture keeps kids interested in the program. In the past year, he said the program focused on science, particularly wetland conservation.

“It’s a character builder,” he said. “It teaches you how to win, how to lose. You gain a sense of responsibility and you gain confidence in whatever it is you are doing. And you meet a lot of people. I made a lot of friends in 4-H that I still talk to today.”

Hebert said Fredieu’s coach-like demeanor and soft spoken approach connects with kids.

“He can get on those kids’ level and relate to them,”  Hebert said. “He can put himself in their shoes, and I think his mom is a teacher and that is naturally in him. He can express himself in a manner in which they can understand.”

Fredieu has no children of his own but said his previous medical job gave him experience and an inspiration to work with children. It was working as a camp counselor for children with asthma at camp that inspired him to pursue a youth oriented job.

“It kind of sparked, and I thought ‘you know I really enjoy working with these kids,’ ” he said.