Students compete in competition to work on ‘soft skills’

METTER, Ga. (WTOC) - Most of us think of vocational education as carpentry, plumbing, electrical and more. But Metter Middle School students are learning the proverbial “soft skills” and hope to take them to the next level.

Students went through everything from a pretend job interview to handling an irate customer in a restaurant. The sixth, seventh, and eighth graders had no idea the simulations they would face.

“Not knowing any of this, we all walked in the door all surprised. Seeing everybody in here was great, but it was also nerve-racking,” eighth grader Anna Ramos said.

The Ron Clark Academy started “The Amazing Shake” as a competition for students to improve their personal skills they need to work with other people.

“Oftentimes students come equipped with the hard skills needed for a project, but not the soft skills,” teacher Haley Todd said.

Local business people evaluated students in each of the drills. They also look at them as potential employees in the “not so distant future”.

“They have the talent, but they miss that soft skill of how to greet people, how to thank people, how to speak in public or even how to write letters,” said Amy Harrison, with Pineland Telephone.

WTOC’s Dal Cannady even got the chance to grade them on public speaking from a script on teleprompter.

The top ten finishers in this contest move to the next round of interviews nicknamed “the circle of doom”. Ultimately, one student will represent Metter at the Ron Clark Academy.

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