Waitsburg Students to compete at Amazing Shake in Atlanta

WAITSBURG -After rounds of competition beginning last September, four Waitsburg students have come out on top and will participate in the National Great Shakes Competition. Carter Barron, Chloe McCaw, Verbena McLaughlin, and Wyatt Parish will travel to the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, in March. As a bonus, since Waitsburg students did so well at regionals, Olivia Kiefel, Jaylynn Gleason, and Lilian Carpenter will also attend the national competition as wildcards.

Twenty-five Waitsburg students went to Mattawa, Washington, to participate in the Amazing Shakes regional competition on February 1, 2024. This is the first year Waitsburg has participated and competed in the Amazing Shake program. Mattawa has held the regional event for the past eight years. Waitsburg competed against students from Othello and Wahluke Junior High Schools and Scootney Springs and Wahitis Elementary Schools.

The Waitsburg kids did well and earned some first-place finishes. Fourth-grader Oaklee Adams placed first in monologue, seventh-grader Barron was first at the Soup, Salad, and Sandwich station, and eighth-grade student Chloe McCaw was top in Music Influence. Other firsts were earned by eighth-grader McLaughlin at the interview station and fifth-grader Jaylynn Gleason in etiquette.

The event was organized as a gauntlet-style competition with twenty different stations. Students had to perform at stations that challenged them in the skills they had been learning throughout this innovative program. Stations required skills from monologue memorization to keeping cool when giving a winter weather report while pelted in the face with snow. Students hosting cooking shows had to do the math on the fly when asked to triple recipe amounts, and others had to control a courtroom as the presiding judge. The program uses creative and fun situations to help kids develop strong social skills.

Before the students board the plane to Georgia for the March 20-24 National Amazing Shake, they must do extensive fundraising. If you would like information on how to sponsor, donate, or help prepare students for the competition, contact Dusty Wirtzberger at  dwirtzberger@waitsburgsd.org or by phone at 509-460-2642.