Preparation began days ahead for the annual West Rowan High School FFA oyster roast, with many hands on deck both prepping for and on the big day.

What began more than 30 years ago as a fundraiser for Steve Trexler’s masonry class became a combined class and FFA event, said Bobby Waller, who is both a school alumni and FFA member there in the ’70s. When Trexler retired, the FFA took it over.

Over the years, the event has really grown as Waller noted at one time selling 150 tickets would have been a big night. Now, he said, they have to cut the ticket sales at 500.

“We could sell more,” he said, but “that’s all we can handle.”

Matt Owens, one of the four local FFA advisors and also a West Rowan and FFA alumni, said this is a good event and that it has grown.

“People like to support this community and its programs,” he said.

The other school FFA advisors include Alex Silliman, Madeline Wilhelm and Abbey Zentmeyer.

Advisors and many alumni were on hand working at the event including cooking the meal, which included not only the steamed oysters, but also oyster stew, fried flounder, shrimp, tenderloin, french fries, hush puppies and onion rings.

“We call it an oyster roast,” said Waller, “but it’s a little bit of everything.”

Not only were many adult leaders, including alumni, advisors, alumni council members, community leaders and more in attendance, but many student FFA members were there, ready and willing to do whatever was needed to be done to make the event a success.

Sarah Waller, president of the school’s FFA organization and a senior this year, said when they hear the event is sold out, the students “automatically think, ‘Hey, we need to get as much help as we can.'”

She said there is lots to do in order to get prepared for the day, including covering the floors with cardboard and setting out the tables.

“We have so many members that want to help,” Waller said, “so we have a lot of help.”

There are about 30 to 40 members that attend the meetings; however, this might not be all as she said sporting events take place at the same time, and there might be members who participate in these and can’t get to meetings.

Some of the jobs that the students assisted with included running the pans of food from the shop area, where the fryers were set up, to the serving area, where ticket holders were ready and waiting to enjoy the feast.

Students also helped man the food serving line and beverage stations, and others were outside where the oysters were cooking with buckets in hand waiting for them to finish cooking. Once done, the oysters were shoveled from the cookers into the buckets and taken to those waiting in the oyster room so they shuck and eat them.

When asked how many oysters there were for the crowds, Silliman shared they had 60 bushels of them.

Other students could be found providing help in the silent auction area where tables full of donated items were available for people to place their bids and hopefully the recipient of the various goodies or play games to win the bigger items such as a chainsaw, pedal tractor or tiller.

“The silent auction is big,” said Wilhelm, with the items being donated from either business in the community, individuals, some anonymous donors and students.

As Wilhelm noted, some school-based enterprises, such as a flower shop, run through the school’s floral design program. “They auctioned off a flower package,” she added.

FFA is a special group and a great program, the students shared, telling how it’s about community and helping. Students who take Ag classes can join during their freshman year, and most do just that, said Sarah Waller.

Being in FFA means a lot to her, she said, sharing that her grandparents had been in it too.

“To me it is such a big family, and it’s relationship, learning about agriculture and learning about how we impact other things in our community and how we have so many people in our community that help us that we don’t know about. FFA to me is about a lot more than just the group meetings that we have once a month,” she continued.

Waller began as a freshman, later competed on teams, became the community service coordinator and became president.

Thurman Floyd, a junior, serves as sentinel for the chapter assisting the president maintaining order. When asked what being a part of FFA meant to him, he said “a lot of it is volunteering and helping people out and learning about agriculture.”

“Community service and engaging in the community,” is what Savannah Meadows, a junior and chaplain for the chapter, said about being in the group. “It’s really fun just to see how much (the) community comes together and have fun and be happy.”

As chaplain, Meadows prays and conducts the Bible studies and devotionals for each meeting.

Getting the word out about what is happening in the local chapter through newsletters and social media is the job of reporter Avery Jenkins. A junior, she has been in FFA for about three years, telling that “FFA is all about leadership and helping out our community.”

Knowing they can do something like this event for the community “and help other people out and give somebody an opportunity to come and learn about what we do is really inspiring to all of us.”

Wanting to return to public school, Zach Reber said he knew West Rowan had Ag classes, so he started with two of them, Ag mechanics and animal science.

“Ever since then, it’s been like I’ve been in it,” he said. And he wants to use what he has learned by continuing doing Ag mechanics in the future.

Waller likewise wants to continue what she has learned during her time in FFA as she developed a love of welding.

“Learning how to weld here got me to welding in college, and I’m already halfway through my certificate and I’m taking classes there and here all at the same time,” she said.

Brinley Batts, who serves as secretary, has been in the program for four years and wants to continue using what she has learned in the program as well.

“I’ve always wanted to be a vet, but it was kind of sparked since I got here.”

She worked with Silliman and he showed her an internship program where she could work with a veterinarian as well as with the animals at the barn located at the school, “and it showed me that’s where I was meant to be”

Batts says that the FFA program is captivating. It’s a “program that grabs your attention pretty quickly.” And she shared that the advisors have been helpful and caring.

“I could see they were not only trying to make me a better educated person, but they were trying to make me ready for the real world and what all it held for me,” she said.

Soon after attending meetings, Batts wanted to become an officer, and served as reporter her junior year, and this her senior year as secretary and regional president.

“It’s been great,” she said.

The students also receive support from the alumni council as Zack Russell, who serves as president of the council said, giving back to the students is the biggest thing they do.

“This program was installed to give back to the students in the form of the trips that they take for the national convention and for scholarships.”
Alumni council member Libby Watson said they do a lot of good things. “We support a lot of programs that the kids do, scholarships, funding their different programs that they are all involved in, and so it’s a good thing.”

Teams from the school travel to Raleigh for state competitions and to Indianapolis for nationals as Waller said they have had a mechanics team, a foods team, a judging team and more.

While leadership and career skills are important assets the students have gained through the program, they will take even more with them in the future as Batts said she would take a community feeling with her.

“It’s a feeling that you have all around you, to support you,” she said. “There’s nothing like going to compete and knowing that everyone back at school knows you’re there and is cheering you on, rooting for you, helping you prep. It’s definitely a mindset that I would like to carry on. It’s very nice to have.”

And that community feel can be seen at the annual oyster roast as the lines grew long, as the workers and attendees could be heard laughing, the encouragement and help given.

Walking through the shop, Silliman could be heard saying, “it is community supported.”