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The Chambers County School Board celebrated the winner of the Amazing Shake competition. At Wednesday’s board meeting, the crowd was packed with students and beaming parents. 

Dr. Sheila Jones, director of curriculum and K-8 instruction, congratulated the winning students and called them up to get a medal or trophy, for the first-place winners. 

“You should be proud of your son or daughter and the work that they did because there are some adults that I know, even educators that don’t like to stand in front of people and talk…they did an outstanding job,” Jones said.

The Amazing Shake is a competition that emphasizes teaching students manners, discipline, respect and professional conduct, according to a CCSD press release. There are two separate competitions, one for fifth and sixth graders and the other for sixth and seventh graders. 

The first round, which took place in January at the LaFayette ALFA building, included around 30 students. Throughout the four rounds, that number narrowed. The second round took place on stage at Langdale Auditorium. 

“[For] the second round, they had to get up on stage and they were given an impromptu [instruction] and they just had to respond right on the spot to build their oratorical skills,” Jones said.

The third round was split between Valley High School and the Chambers County Development Authority. Jones said Sarah Maddux, the coordinator of the competition and academic interventionist at Eastside-J.P. Powell Magnet School, got creative this round. The students that went to Valley High, the sixth and seventh graders, had to pretend to be news broadcasters. They were given a script and had to give a newscast to the judges. 

The final round took place at the CCSB meeting room, where school district staff judged the remaining students. Jones said the kids dressed in business clothes, had resumes ready and answered questions on the spot. 

“To do this is intimidating. To have to come into this room and speak in front of the superintendent and other adults that you really don’t know,” said Dr. Casey Chambley, CCSD superintendent. “To answer questions and still have a smile on your face and still be able to tell us what you had for dinner the night before was very impressive.”

In the end, the finalists were Ava Scott in first place for the fifth and sixth-grade category, followed by Ada Yarbrough and Andrew Grant in second and third. For the sixth and seventh-grade category, Gabby Robles took home first place followed by Landon Dowell and Tyler Broussard.

All the winners will serve as “ambassadors” at certain school events next year, according to the CCSD. As first-place finalists, Scott and Robles will get to go to the state capitol in Montgomery where the students will sit with State Representative Debbie Wood on the floor of the House during a session. The pair will also go on tours in the capitol and meet Gov. Kay Ivey.

“Our school system is in good hands with these young people,” Chambley said.