Grant County students compete, learn ‘soft skills’

SOUTH GRANT COUNTY — Two Grant County schools put their soft skills to the test last month as Wahluke and Royal middle-schoolers took part in the Amazing Shake, demonstrating things like making eye contact, shaking hands, carrying on a conversation and thinking on their feet.

In Wahluke on Jan. 31, approximately 150 fifth- through eighth-grade students competed in “the gauntlet,” a series of 23 stations that challenge students to recall what they have studied and to improvise in situations thrown at them.

This was the second time this year that these students had competed in the Amazing Shake. Before Christmas break, all of Wahluke’s fifth- through eighth-grade students participated in “the mini-gauntlet.” The mini-gauntlet only had three stations, compared to the full gauntlet that had 23.

“The gauntlet is supposed to be a difficult challenge that puts them through a variety of things,” said Andy Harlow, principal of Wahluke Junior High. “It’s not the yellow brick road with hugs, flowers and hula hoops. They are going to fail. They have to be able to gather themself and put themselves back together. I tell kids that it is designed so you will struggle. They have to have the resilience to think on the fly.”

On Feb. 3, the top 30 students competed in a debate in front of grades five through eight. The top 20 from that round will go on to the regional Amazing Shake in the Tri-Cities at the end of the month.

This is the fourth year that Wahluke has done the “Amazing Warrior Shake,” as they call it. They have sent students to nationals twice. The top 10 students from the district get to go.

The main thing that Harlow wants his students to walk away with is grit and resilience.

“No matter what happens in any situation, I truly believe that if a kid works hard, is resilient and has a growth mindset, they can truly do whatever they want, no matter what happens,” Harlow said. “We don’t tell people to be straight-A students. We want them to be gritty.”

Meanwhile, in Royal City, seven sixth-grade students were competing in the final rounds of their Amazing Shake. This is the first year that students at Royal Intermediate School have competed in the Amazing Shake.

On Jan. 29, all 160 of Royal’s sixth-grade students participated in an event called “Work the Room,” in which students had to have quality conversations with people they most likely didn’t know.

The 60 students with the most points from the Work the Room round moved on to the “Circle of Doom.” They were asked a wide range of questions and had 60 seconds to answer. The students who made it through the Circle of Doom went on to a gauntlet similar to the one at Wahluke.

The top seven contestants in the Amazing Shake went to Smalligans in Royal City to demonstrate their fine dining skills. After lunch, all of the Royal Intermediate sixth-graders gathered to hear the top three contestants answer questions about their Amazing Shake experience, while being graded by judges. In the end, judges chose Briana Cedillo as the overall winner for the inaugural Royal Amazing Shake.

“I feel like I accomplished something I never thought I could accomplish,” Cedillo said, as she received her award in an all-school assembly.

Greg Fancher, a former assistant superintendent for the Kennewick School District, attended the gauntlet at Wahluke Junior High. One of his former schools also does the Amazing Shake, while a second school is getting started. Fancher said the Amazing Shake gives students a framework they can use when faced with problems.

“As kids go, they get a little better at it,” Fancher said. “They become more polished when talking to adults. They use a different set of skills at each station. It gives them a really strong set of communication skills.”