Harmony McCormack was thrilled Thursday afternoon.
The Cowden Elementary fourth grader had just earned the top mark in the “Think On Your Feet” event in the school’s Amazing Shake competition. The contest is a series of events focused on communication and leadership skills, starting with a good handshake.
The win capped off a lot of practice and extra work, she said — McCormack worked so hard that she got “super stressed” for a while.
“When I figured out that I got in the top 10, I was extremely happy and all my friends were happy for me,” McCormack said. “It made me really happy because I put in a lot of work.”
McCormack’s reward for all that work was more work. After she and four other students were named winners in front of the entire school, they were whisked away — much like the Triwizard Cup champions in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” — and told all about what they need to prepare for Friday.
Their agenda: Prepare a resume, interview for a bank teller position, design a park project for the City of Springfield and have a lunch conversation with Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Grenita Lathan.
“They will earn points based on their poise and their ability to speak,” said Cherie Norman, principal of Cowden Elementary. “On the way back from all that, their points will be tabulated.”
In its second year at Cowden, the Amazing Shake is a national competition organized by the Ron Clark Academy, based out of Atlanta, Georgia. The contest is built to emphasize manners, respect, discipline and good conduct within an entertaining, competitive structure.
This year’s contest at Cowden fielded 54 third, fourth and fifth graders who completed two separate events on Thursday morning.
Run the Gauntlet, Think on Your Feet, Work the Room
“The Gauntlet” featured six stations, where each student got about 60 seconds to display their professional bearing while accomplishing a variety of tasks. “Work the Room” asked the students to network with community professionals.
From those two events, 10 students moved on to “Think On Your Feet,” the afternoon event that McCormack won.
The other students included Work the Room winner Maliah Hawkins, Gauntlet winner Ava Petersburg, Allie Saunders, Braylon Henderson, Roberto Morales, Gracyn Young, Genesis Martinez, Jason Flood and Alaina Pickett.
They each gave on-the-fly speeches to the entire Cowden student body about a range of subjects.
McCormack ended up speaking about what she learned from the contest. She told students that there are many challenges in life, and being able to talk to people is one of them.
“In Amazing Shake, you learn how to do that,” she said during her speech. “And when you learn it, it makes a difference in yourself.”
Developing a deeper understanding
Morales, Young, Martinez and Petersburg advanced to Friday's event. After Friday’s events, McCormack finished in second place, with Young, another fourth grader, winning top prize. The contest’s top finishers can advance to a national competition to be held later this year.
Norman said she has seen a transformation in students during the two years it has run the contest, and the transformation is worth the work.
“I think they have the ability to converse with adults, and they are so respectful and understand their role,” Norman said. “They understand what school is about, and they strive to learn and grow, and to become a better student.”
The contest is part of how the school is structured at the Ron Clark Academy. Cowden uses the academy’s “four house” system where, in a manner similar to the four Hogwarts houses, students are organized into groups for contests involving character, relationships and school spirit.
Norman said the best illustration of that was how the students support each other. Some of the students were bound to be let down by not making the top 10, or five, she said.
“We’re going to have lots of kids who are disappointed, and you’ll see others lift them up,” Normal said. “That’s one thing we really encourage, because there are times when we are all disappointed, but what we do with disappointment defines who we are.”
