SHEPHERDSVILL, Ky. — It’s clear why agriculture class feels like home to Bullitt Central High School junior Shukri Ali. “I was born on a farm. I was lucky enough to get to experience that lifestyle,” said Ali. 

Shukri Ali is a Future Farmers of America member who helps his family run a cow farm. (Spectrum News 1/Ashley N. Brown)

On his family’s farm, he helps raise beef cows. At school, the junior and his classmates are raising quail, chicken and tilapia. 

It’s all to prepare for the school’s first farm-to-table dinner event on Saturday. “It’s pretty tricky,” says Ali. “I mean, we got these eggs, we put them in our incubator, and we hatched them and we’ve raised them from the egg and it was an adventure.”

Bullitt Central agriculture teacher Tiphanie Peak says animal science and agriculture students have been preparing for the event for four months.  “This is my floral design class and they are creating every centerpiece and every decoration for that evening,” said Peake. “We’ve also raised some of the herbs and the vegetables that will be used for that evening in our greenhouse outside with our greenhouse feature and their students.”

Students at Bullitt Central High School hard at work on a collaborative farm-to-table meal for the community. (Spectrum News 1/Ashley N. Brown)

It’s a collaborative project involving students from multiple classes in the school’s Career and Technical Education program. 

The project is a collaboration of students from five different classes in the Career and Technical Education program at Bullitt Central. (Spectrum News 1/Ashley N. Brown)

“Business has done all the marketing, so they’re going to be doing the ticket sales, the commercial, the reservations. Culinary is cooking everything that we raised, so they’re going to cook the chicken, they’re going to cook the quail and the tilapia. Art is going to have all kinds of art displays for viewing that evening for people to come and enjoy, and then the choir is also going to sing and entertain during the dinner that night,” says Peake. 

Peake says the project is a lesson on communication, problem-solving and partnership. “It really doesn’t matter whether they’re agricultural students, choir students, art students. Together, they’re a team and you got to know how to do that in the real world,” says Peake. 

During the event, 320 meals will be served. 

“I’m so happy that I got to see these hatched from an egg and now I’m happy I get to see them be turned into a beautiful dinner, “ said Ali.

Proceeds from the dinner will be used to create scholarships for CTE students. 

The dinner will be held at the Bullitt Central High School cafeteria on Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.