LAKELAND – Some of the students were dressed more casually – jeans, t-shirts and sneakers.
But others were more dressed to impress, wearing dresses or blouses, heels, slacks, shirts, ties and dress shoes.
The reason most of the Lakeland Christian School middle school students were dressed up in their Sunday best wasn’t to land jobs; it was to learn to land respect, manners, listening skills and other real-world social competencies.
On Feb. 12 and 13, sixth- and eighth-graders at LCS took part in “The Amazing Shake.”
The Amazing Shake, created by the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, is a multi-round, multi-station competition designed to teach middle school students professional abilities. Those include practicing manners, public speaking, active listening, teamwork, resilience and professional conduct through a series of challenging, real-world scenarios.
“I’m going to give you a scenario, and I want you to tell me how you feel about the scenario. Let’s say two of your friends are arguing and they both want you on their side. How would you handle that?” volunteer Truly Donley, a Lakeland insurance broker, asked eighth-grader Aiden Doyle, 14.
Students go through intense, timed and themed scenarios ― from historical to the future ― to test poise, confidence and the ability to interact under pressure.
On Feb. 12, about 270 students took part in the first day of The Amazing Shake. The event was coordinated by Josette Tucker, dean of students for grades 5 to 8, and LCS Middle School Principal John Harvey.
Harvey, in his fifth year at LCS, said this is the third year LCS has participated in The Amazing Shake. He said the idea was to help students form “meaningful connections” with people with whom they’re interacting, in different ways.
To do that, students visited nine stations set up in the gym and other rooms. At those, school staff, business professionals from the community and parents were among the 55 volunteers who went through “real-world” event scenarios at which students were given scores from 0 to 20 based on how they responded.
Those events were:
As he observed the action, Harvey said The Amazing Shake has grown in scope over the past three years.
“I think our students are more confident when speaking to adults and learn to become more confident in their daily interactions,” he said. “It’s preparing students in advance with social situations they’ll experience in life.”
Among those social skills were the mechanics of a proper handshake and how to “work a room” so they can better present themselves for career and social opportunities in the future.
Students were awarded points from 0 to 20 at each station, based on their interactions with volunteers. On Feb. 13, the top 20 highest-scoring students were going to the Catapult Lakeland business-development service to take on a challenge and create pitches to judges. The activity will narrow it down to the final five participants.
Those five students were to be interviewed live at the finale in the LCS cafeteria in front of parents and the entire middle school student body, with a chance to win a cash prize of $200, paid tuition to the Student Leadership University 101, Orlando, and the title of “2026 The Amazing Shake Champion.”
Eighth-grader Roslyn Powers was in the The Amazing Shake top five finishers in 2024. As she stood at a station, she said the competition taught what the “real world” would expect from her after high school.
“It showed me what it will be like in the real world later in life – how to speak better, how to relate to people,” said Powers, 14. “It’s a good long-term way to grow and interact later in life.”
As well as students, The Amazing Shake is known for training other educators through professional development programs and sharing its methods for teaching and fostering educational and social growth.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Middle-schoolers put real-world skills to the test in The Amazing Shake
Reporting by Paul Catala, Ledger correspondent / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
