A staple of the school community for over 20 years, the BBQ club seeks to foster school spirit this football season, while also exploring grilling during other sports seasons.

In addition to grilling during the fall football season, this year’s BBQ club officers are thinking about expanding the club to sports that play later in the year. ”We’re exploring grilling at home games for different sports, not just football, and in the spring at lacrosse games,” senior grillmaster Lizzie Misovec said.

BBQ Club has been an integral part of the school community since its formation in 2002. Since then, the club has skyrocketed to being one of the biggest clubs at the school with over 100 members this year. “We’ve had way more kids at the grill this year than we’ve ever had before,” club sponsor and social studies teacher Jenn Bauer said.

One of the traditions associated with the BBQ club is the unique merchandise the club designs. This year, the club featured a new light gray hoodie with a flying pig on the front as well as the iconic red shirt with a customizable nickname on the back. “All of the grillmasters worked together on the merch designs,” Misovec said.

Another BBQ club tradition is the “nominating” of grillmasters. Every year, the current grillmasters each select one junior to take their spot for the next year. “We try to find kids who go to lots of sports games, not just football games, as well as kids who are screaming and cheering a lot during the games,” former grillmaster and current freshman at Elon University Kaitlin Mariani said.

Potential grillmasters for next year include juniors, Jack Kerns and Matthew Kunst. Despite having to keep up with a busy fall baseball schedule, Kerns and Kunst make sure to attend as many football games as they can. “It’s always fun coming to the pregame cookouts. The food is great and the games are fun,” Kerns said.

Although the club has had its fair share of success, there is always potential for change in the future. “I would make maybe one or two more grillmasters because there is a lot of work to do while grilling and it would help manage our responsibilities,” Misovec said.

Although the BBQ club handles merchandise designing, food preparation, and social media management, the grillmasters have one main goal for their club. “We want to bring the school together,” Misovec said.

Both Mariani and Bauer have made memories during their time with the BBQ club. “My favorite part was being able to hype people up at the football games and hanging out with people at the tailgates,” Mariani said.

Bauer’s favorite part of the club was a little bit different. “My favorite memories are from the early years when they would accidentally set the grass on fire,” Bauer said.

As the football season draws to a close, BBQ Club plans to end the fall season on a strong note. “We hope that everyone comes to our final regular season tailgate on Oct. 20,” Misovec said.

This story was originally published on Common Sense on October 24, 2023.