At a time where many young people are glued to their device screens with diminishing in-person interaction, a competition in February judged elementary and junior high school-age students on their social and communication skills in front of real people.  

For the second consecutive year, Wallace Stegner Academy in West Valley City hosted the regional finals of Amazing Shake, a national program that originated at Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta that challenges students to demonstrate confidence, poise and adaptability in real world situations. 

The scenarios in this case involved 24 students from the five area campuses of Stegner Academy and Hawthorn Academy in West Jordan and South Jordan circulating among booths to engage in brief conversations with representatives of local businesses and public agencies. The students interacted with people from entities like the West Valley City Police Department, Third District Juvenile Court, Zions Bank, Chick-fil-A and Northrop Grumman, among others. They were scored on how well they did at each stop.

“It’s really an interpersonal skills competition—everything from shaking hands, to greeting, to talking, to first impressions, to having a dialogue with people, skills that we feel that students…are lacking in the United States in general,” said Erick Diaz, principal of grades five through eight at Wallace Stegner Academy. He said the absence of those abilities is more prevalent among lower-income students. “We feel that those skills for our students are lacking. This competition brings out those skills.” 

Diaz says enhancing those skills now will help the young people in such endeavors as securing part-time jobs while in school, interviewing for college admissions and later for career positions. 

“I think all the things I take from this I can take into the real world,” said Zealynd Betham, an eighth-grade student at Stegner Academy. “It was really hard at first and it got easier,” she added about the Amazing Shake experience.

Third District Juvenile Court Judge Aaron Flater was one of the judges at Amazing Shake. “Watching these young people interact and get out of their comfort zone, seeing them be mature in their conversations is so much fun,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoy it.” 

Fifth-grader Fernando Torres expressed similar sentiments. “This is super fun interacting with different people and pretending like you’re in an actual interview because it probably will help you more in life.” 

Elena Smith, an eighth-grade student at Hawthorn Academy, ultimately had the highest score and will represent the region—comprised of Utah and other mountain states—in the global finals March 27-29 at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta.