MADISON — Some say a good, firm handshake and other basic social skills are a dying art.

Fourth-grade and fifth-grade students at Mill Creek Elementary are looking to help change that as they learn how to master manners, discipline, respect and professional conduct. According to MCES Principal Carmen Buchanan, the school offers an “Amazing Shake” club for upper grade students as one way to achieve this.

“The goal is to prepare students to be able present themselves exceptionally well for opportunities today as well as the future,” she said.

In addition, Mill Creek held a competition last year to decide which students to take to the Amazing Shake National Competition at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. With a few modifications, they held another school competition Dec. 10 to pick six exceptional students to fine-tune their skills in preparation for the 2019 competition.

“Some kids might not be as polished, but some will really surprise you,” said Kimberly Harper, a second-grade teacher at Mill Creek.

Buchanan said the national Amazing Shake competition tests the participants in a wide variety of situations, some of which are wacky and improvisational, and others are enough to throw a seasoned adult off their game.

The school competition focused on a basic “work the room” situation. The kids were encouraged to introduce themselves, shake hands and carry on small-talk conversations with adult judges.

Mill Creek invited a handful of adults in the community to come to the school and serve as practice conversation partners for the students. The competition was broken up into two rounds each of fourth-graders and fifth-graders. The fourth-grade students each had about 30 seconds to interact with each adult in speed dating-esque flow structure. Common conversation starters included “Did you do anything fun this weekend?” and “What do you do for a living?” Each child had a unique number sticker that the adult judges would enter into a Google form to fill out a rubric for critique.

All upper-grade students were invited to participate, though only fifth-graders are eligible for the national competition. Competing students who are in the Amazing Shake club had a bit of an extra edge over the rest of the competition. That extra edge was no guarantee, though, because Harper said they did not tell the students exactly how the competition would unfold.

The students were scored in the following categories: confidence, handshake, verbal skills, nonverbal behavior, adaptability and “je ne sais quoi.”

“We want to give them very, very strict criteria so that they understand this is what we expect from [them],” Harper said.

District 1 Councilwoman Maura Wroblewski served as one of the judges at the competition. She said she was “very impressed” with the students’ maturity.

“It was an honor and privilege to be there and meet the students—the next generation,” she said at the Madison City Council Meeting that evening. “We’re in good hands.”

Judges could also leave specific comments on the Google form if they desired.

“Last year, we depended on the teachers to judge after school, and while that was still really fun, it’s super hard to be objective when you know the kids, and you want them to do well, and you know their potential,” Harper added.

Fourth-graders interacted with the judges one-on-one, while fifth-graders conversed in either pairs or trios. The goal with grouping the fifth-graders was to see how well they did playing off of each other.

Harper said competitors in the Amazing Shake club learn a special acronym to help them remember certain skills: S.P.E.C.I.A.L. This stands for shake hands, posture, eye contact, charm, introduce yourself, ask a question, and lean in and listen.

Some of these come more naturally while others take practice.

“[‘Lean in and listen’] can be really hard for kids because they throw the question out there, and then they don’t listen for the answer,” Harper said. “They’re just kind of waiting for their turn to talk again, and that’s something that we’re trying to teach them—conversation is more than just you talking. It’s a two-way thing, and you have to be ready to receive their answer, and you don’t want to just be thinking about what you say next. You really want to be engaged with what they’re saying.”

Another skill that can be difficult to master is charm.

“Some people are just more naturally charming—it’s just personality—however, we talked about things that are charming are when you nod when someone says something you agree with, smile when they say something funny,” Harper said. “You just engage with them naturally.”

The main focus, of course, is the handshake since that is often the initial point of interaction. Harper said the club tries to teach students not to be a “limp noodle” or “the Hulk” but to find a happy medium in their handshake. A good balance of eye contact is also something important to work on.

The six winners of Mill Creek’s Amazing Shake competition will spend the next few weeks fine-tuning these crucial skills with teachers like Harper and third-grade teacher Michael Kelley ahead of the national competition, which will take place Feb. 22-24. Harper said they were able to find sponsors to help them take the students to Connor’s for dinner one night last year to practice table manners.

“It was a really, really neat experience of how to order and how to carry on the conversation, and when you do get your food, if you ordered a steak, you know how to cut your steak,” Harper said. “That’s all kind of foreign skills to some of these students who their families haven’t been able to give them that experience, or for whatever reason, they just haven’t.”

In addition to table manners, students will also work intently on public speaking.

“We’re going to take them out and do kind of real-world experiences,” Harper said. “They’re so much more valuable for them to be able to get in real, authentic situations.” Part of this practice will also include understanding different types of public speaking.

Other than the special occasion dinner at Connor’s, teachers have challenged these students with other unique situations. Some of these include pretending to give a wedding toast, learning and performing a script in 10 minutes and writing and performing a poem using five specific words.

“Those kinds of things really throw them off their game,” Harper said. “… We try to come up with unique challenges that would put them in social situations that they’re maybe not used to … to give them an opportunity to give each other feedback and to grow.”

For the national competition, Harper said the students will likely have either polos or vests made, possibly with the students’ house crests. She pointed out that the crest could be a good talking point for students.

As students continue to learn and master the principles of S.P.E.C.I.A.L., Harper and other teachers hope to keep seeing them make a positive difference in their school.

“Those are all things that we’ve been working on, and they kind of seem like a lost art, and we don’t want them to be,” Harper said. “That’s been really our focus, and helping every child in our building, even outside the club members.”

Already, she said she has noticed more students giving a warm “hello” to each other in the hallways. This was not always the case, and Harper credits the club with helping to change that.

“A lot of times, I’d walk down the hallway before we started this initiative, and nobody would even look at you,” she recalled. “… Now, it’s really neat how that’s changing. As you walk down the hallway, kids will say, ‘Hey, good morning Ms. Harper.’ It’s just changed the dynamic for our building.”

For more information on the Amazing Shake National Competition, visit ronclarkacademy.com/nationals.