Mountain View Intermediate students shook hands and took names at the school’s Amazing Shake event, practicing the type-A social skills they’ll need for life.
The Amazing Shake is an initiative organized annually through the Ron Clark Academy and prioritizes basic professional social skills like handshakes, introductions, eye contact, conversation and etiquette through a set of challenges taking place over multiple days. The academy places “an emphasis on teaching our students manners, discipline, respect and how to conduct themselves in a professional environment,” its website reads.
MVI’s Amazing Shake is not officially affiliated with the Ron Clark Academy but has “taken RCA initiatives and strategies and modified them to meet the needs of our own school,” Principal Nancy Breedlove said.
The school hosted its first Amazing Shake on Friday, Feb. 27, with all 600 MVI students practicing handshakes and conversations with more than 50 community volunteers. People came to help from the Macon County Sheriff’s Office, Franklin Police Department, Macon County EMS, local banks, Western Carolina University and Southwestern Community College, Macon County Schools, the Department of Public Instruction and more. Each student walked to different volunteers to show proper form and earn scores from the judges.
The top 100 students from the preliminary challenge underwent “The Gauntlet” in which students took part in 20 one-minute tasks. Some tasks included explaining to judges the MVI house system, breaking from conversation to collect dropped papers, setting a table for two using dining etiquette, ordering meals, convincing judges to vacation in Franklin and giving directions with a map.
“These tasks vary in topic, but the same skills were being judged at each station; confidence, communication, eye contact, thinking quickly under pressure and problem solving,” Breedlove said. “An important note about The Gauntlet is that the students competing are 10-12 year olds and the gauntlet stations they visited focused on skills that many of them were unfamiliar with, purposely taking them outside of their comfort zones. Additionally, each judge was a community member. … Many students recall it as their favorite round to compete in.”
Fourth-grade student Elizabeth Bennett said the trick was to keep eye contact in conversations, adding these skills may make it easier to build connections and get in better with prospective employers. Delilah Silva said she smiled a lot, and that it scored her a lot of nines on a 1-10 scale.
Joseph Sanford said his goal was to “shake their hand with a firm, but not too hard of a handshake, keep eye contact and ask what their name is.” He said he may use these skills in a job interview. Zander Curran said he learned to keep eye contact, differentiate professional and personal language by conversation partner, and to stay confident in interviews.
The 26 top contenders from The Gauntlet advanced to a debate round. The students were broken into groups of five or six to debate according to given prompts, testing their ability to share opinions, defend positions and disagree cordially, accurately restating opponents’ positions. The top 10 proceeded to a tour of the Macon County Courthouse and were visited by N.C. Senator Kevin Corbin. Students practiced manners, engagement and question-asking.
The top five finalists had lunch at Gracious Plates downtown and employed their new etiquette skills. They also prepared and made a speech to practice their public speaking skills with their “acceptance speeches,” though only the overall winner will give the speech.
Two finalists, Paislee Ammons and Isabella Rubio, took turns serving as managers at Fat Buddies on Wednesday, March 4.
“Each finalist chose a team of five MVI students to help them win the final round. Each finalist served as the manager on duty for their respective shift. Each manager held their team by delegating responsibility, assisted in problem solving, ensuring customer service and engaging the customers. The ownership and staff of Fat Buddies were gracious and willing to provide this level of opportunity to our students which allowed our finalists a platform to shine,” Breedlove said.
After the final round, Rubio claimed the championship, winning a trophy and cash prize for her efforts. A post from the MVI Facebook Page read, “Over the last week she had demonstrated poise, charisma, confidence, leadership and depth of character all while showing kindness and respect to the students she was competing against. Congratulations, Isabella, we are all so proud of you!”
Breedlove said she appreciated the support of the community and the MVI faculty. “From serving as judges to opening their place of business to our students, our community has rallied around this opportunity in an incredible way,” she said. “The MVI faculty and staff have gone above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities to make this event a huge success; they adjusted their schedules, filled a variety of roles, coached, cheered for and walked alongside our students throughout the entire competition.”