Preparing for the future: Students learn important skills during 'Amazing Shake'

May 18—As 11-year-old Fatima Rodriguez left a conference room at Cedar Ridge Elementary Tuesday, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"I was pretty nervous," she said. "But I think I did good."

Rodriguez, a fifth-grade student at Cedar Ridge, had just completed a mock job meeting with Coldwell Banker Kinard Realty co-owners Mike Maret and John Thomas during which she detailed why she deserved a "pay raise," as part of the school's "The Amazing Shake" event.

The event included 18 fourth- and fifth-grade students — six each from Cedar Ridge, Antioch Elementary and Eastside Elementary — competing in four rounds that challenged them to practice and exhibit several soft skills such as problem-solving, situational awareness, public speaking and professionalism in the workplace, including how to correctly undertake a handshake, maintain eye contact and display confidence.

The first round in Cedar Ridge's gymnasium consisted of nine stations representing real-world scenarios. Students were assessed on their adaptability, professionalism and the soft skills as they hosted their own cooking show, gave a dinner party toast, created a commercial for a fictional sports drink brand, gave an on-camera "red carpet" press interview and calmed down angry movie theater patrons as the theater's manager, among other situations.

From there, the top six students moved to the second round, which involved a formal dinner scenario in the school's professional learning room with the students evaluated for their table manners and dining etiquette.

Cedar Ridge fifth-graders Adin Caudill, Kimberly Garcia, Fatima Rodriguez, Ryan Harris and Juanmiguel Gonzalez, with Eastside Elementary fifth-grader Tucker Williams, gathered around a dinner table and were served a fancy meal while conversing with Cedar Ridge Principal Carla Maret and Cindy Dobbins, the former principal of the elementary school who helped with the event.

The top six were then reduced to the top four — Rodriguez, Williams, Caudill and Garcia — who moved on to round three, which included a job interview conducted by Whitfield County Schools representatives Michelle Caldwell and Scott Houston. As part of the mock interview, the students were graded on how they kept their composure and professionalism as one of the interviewers sat on a whoopee cushion.

The final round was between the top two students, Rodriguez and Williams, and featured the mock job meeting with Coldwell Banker Kinard Realty as if they were actual employees.

Rodriguez placed first, Williams second and Caudill third. All 18 students received a certificate while the top three received trophies.

"I'm very surprised that I won," Rodriguez said. "At first, I was super nervous and then when I started doing the stations I calmed down a little. Then I got really nervous again once I made it to the top six. Going on, I just sort of calmed down because I knew how far I came, so I was proud of myself already. I'm super happy that I accomplished this."

Julia Bloodworth, a fifth-grade teacher at Cedar Ridge who helped plan and organize the event, said each student did an "amazing job."

"This was very, very hard," she said. "But you all did amazing all day long."

Bloodworth said this was the second year the school has held the Amazing Shake competition. Last year, the event was held solely for students in the school. This year it was opened up to Southeast Whitfield High School feeder schools.

She said the idea came after teachers visited the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta. Each year, the nonprofit middle school holds its own Amazing Shake competition for fourth- through eighth-grade students that places an "emphasis on teaching our students manners, discipline, respect and how to conduct themselves in a professional environment."

"That was something that I thought that we could maintain and bring back to our county," Bloodworth said. "This is just something that stood out to me that I thought was great. Soft skills are important for (students) in life and as they prepare for middle school."

Carla Maret said the students go into each scenario "cold," without knowing what they will be challenged with.

"It's really just thinking on your feet and how you're going to handle those situations," she said.

Williams said staying focused and alert at all times was a challenging task, but one he enjoyed.

"It's exciting because I got to meet all of these people and I got to experience situations that I never thought I would be in," he said. "It's like an ongoing test and you've just got to keep remembering what you learned. You always need to know this stuff in case you need to go for a job in the future or when eating out. You have to be prepared and have good manners."

Caudill said the event was "amazing."

"I was a little nervous doing the cooking show because I never thought that I would experience that," he said. "And then the movie theater, where people were screaming at you and you're the manager, and you had to figure it all out. But I think I handled it well."

Gonzalez said the most important takeaway was how the exercises can help set him up for success as he gets older.

"I think that this experience is going to impact my future," he said. "I feel like it's helping develop the brain for when you get older. I think how to have table manners, how to have confidence when talking to different people and how to just find resolutions (to problems) are important."

Bloodworth said she hopes to see the competition become a staple in the county and continue to grow each year.

"Our goal is to hopefully one day be able to send a student from Whitfield County and be able to compete in the Ron Clark Academy's 'Amazing Shake,'" she said. "We're already thinking about next year and ways we can make it better, like bringing students to an actual restaurant in town or holding a job interview in a business office outside of the school."

As for this year's event, Rodriguez said she believes it will have a lasting impact.

"I feel like I'll always remember that I made it this far if I go to a job interview one day," she said. "I feel like I can flashback to how hard I worked through this."