Fulton County Ohio Media

After being encouraged by several faculty members and witnessing the Swanton Middle School’s Amazing Shake program, then in its fifth year, first hand, Evergreen Middle School (EMS) principal Lucas Burkholder introduced a version of the program at his school. Developed at the nationally renowned Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, “the Amazing Shake is a competition that places emphasis on teaching students manners, discipline, respect, and professional conduct.  Prior to the competition, students learn the nuances of professional human interaction as they are taught skills such as how to give a proper handshake, how to “work a room,” how to give a successful interview, and how to remain composed under pressure.  The goal is to prepare our students so that they are able to present themselves exceptionally well for opportunities today as well as those that will come in the future.”

When Mr. Burkholder visited Swanton Middle School (SMS) after being invited to observe the competition by then SMS principal Matt Smith, he came away very impressed.  “Right away I saw eight-graders dressed professionally and introducing themselves.  Not only are they shaking your hand when you walk in that building, as they’re walking to the (competition) area they’re talking your ear off.  They’re having a conversation like an adult,” said Mr. Burkholder explaining his first impression of the event.

The competition that day involved the entire seventh-grade class going through a “gauntlet” of 25 stations where they were tasked with displaying their skills on being interviewed for a job, selling a product or service, business dinner etiquette, tying a tie or having a telephone conversation, among others.  At each station the student would introduce themselves and shake the interviewer/judge’s hand.

Mr. Burkholder, a former high school athlete and coach, used a sports-related analogy to describe what he saw.  “There’s something about high school kids when they go out to play a football game, in which there is a level of excitement but also a level of nervousness.  You can sense both in the kids.  They know what they are doing is about to be a big deal, but yet, they’re very focused on what they are doing,” he said.  “This is the first academic thing I’ve ever been around, when I saw those seventh-graders, they meant business.  They were there to win, but they were having fun.  It was a cool combination of the two.  I was blown away by the whole process.”

Last August, after soliciting for volunteers from the faculty to form a committee, Mr. Burkholder and team began the process of creating the Amazing Shake, Evergreen Style.  Every month, the students were taught a skill and a week or so later, they would hold a practice session.  The first skill taught was the handshake while looking at the person in the eye, a seemingly simple skill, but one that even adults sometimes struggle with.  The school eventually brought in volunteers/judges from the community, separated the students by grade, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th, and had each student introduce themselves 10 times for a score.

After five months of different lessons, EMS held their first “Gauntlet.”  “We had 82 seventh-graders compete and 54 community/business members come in and run all our stations (21) and got them all through in two rounds.  They gave us the scorecards back, we tallied them up and we took the top 11 kids,” said Mr. Burkholder.  The top students were Daniel Hernandez, Matthew Jenkins, Lucia Abec, Karlee Hyatt, Maya Vance, Zachary Leininger, Bradley Bauman, Emma Dye, Callen Willey , Kane Montgomery and Aiden Hudik. 

In April, the 11 students traveled to Worthington Steel in Delta to give charity presentations to a board of Worthington staff members.  “The kids had to go in and explain their charity, why it’s a good charity, how it’s connected to them, a five-to-ten-minute presentation and they received a score from each of the Worthington employees. We were all given a tour of the facility followed by a catered lunch,” recounted Mr. Burkholder.  After lunch, the EMS contingent returned to the school, an assembly was organized and the top the top three students were named.  The overall winner was Zachary Leininger.

The faculty and staff of Evergreen Middle School has made great strides in just their first year of the Amazing Shake.  “I am so impressed at how much our kids have grown in just one year,” said Mr. Burkholder.  There is a major change coming to EMS next school year.  The fifth-grade class will become part of EMS and will be incorporated into the Amazing Shake program.  One of the best attributes of the Amazing Shake is that every school can customize the program to its needs to better educate the students. Mr. Burkholder confirmed there will be an expansion of the program that will build on their very successful first year.

Amazing Shake Finalists:

(Back Row L to R) Daniel Hernandez, Matthew Jenkins, Lucia Abec, Karlee Hyatt, Maya Vance, Zachary Leininger

(Front Row L to R) Bradley Bauman, Emma Dye, Callen Willey (Kneeling), Kane Montgomery, Aiden Hudik.