The Amazing Shake 2023

Back in January Brooklyn participated in The Amazing Shake in our school district.  The Amazing Shake is a competition that is intended to help students build leadership skills, read all about it here.  She was one in 400 something middle school students that participated and she came in second place for our district which meant she would move on to the Global competition in Atlanta, GA.

Here is Brooklyn at the finals for our district.  There were five judges who would ask these finalists questions and they were judged at the end on their answers as well as how they handled themselves.

I was beyond proud of this girl.

Of course I think she's pretty amazing so it made me so happy to see her recognized for being her amazing self!

Being interviewed for the district news.

In March we flew out to Atlanta, GA for the Global competition at the Ron Clark Academy.

She studied on the way out by watching the news.  They were told they would be asked about current events as well as something that may have happened in the prior 24 hours before the competition began.

More studying in the hotel room.

Top five middle schoolers that made it from our district.

The first night we all went to dinner and then the girls all met up in one of the rooms and did some studying together.

The adults got together to hang out for the night.

The next morning was St Patrick's day and I couldn't let the day go by without a fun treat so I packed a little bag full of green goodies for Brooklyn and her friend who was staying in the room with us.

The extent of our site seeing while in Atlanta.  There was no time to do anything other than what we came to do which was go to the Ron Clark Academy for The Amazing Shake.

We walked across the street to take this picture and look at a shop before we had to go back and get ready for our first night of the competition.

The first night was a dinner, practice rounds and the kick off ceremony to the weekend.

The Ron Clark Academy is an absolute incredible school.  It was amazing inside!  It was really neat to see it all.

The kids all went off to do their practice rounds while the adults all ate.  By the time we all met up again it was time for the opening ceremonies.  It was past 8 pm and none of the kids had eaten, Brooklyn had not eaten since before noon and she does not do well without food.   When I saw her I knew something was wrong and I know her to not ask but another parent did and the tears came.  I pulled our aside and she was a wreck.   She was definitely feeeling the stress and the pressure and I wanted so badly to tell her it's fine, we could leave and just fly back home but that is not how we raised her.   I told her she needed to finish what we came here to do and that I could care less about her placing well in this competition.  We were here for the experience and to try something new.  It took her a long time to calm down and eventually she joined her group and finished the night out.

We didn't get back to the hotel until 10:30, she still had not had dinner so I immediately got her food, she ate and then went to bed but it was midnight by then and she was bake up again by 5:30 am to get ready for the official day of competition.

It was cold while we waited.

There was a waiting room for the adults while the kids were going through several different stages of the competition.  I did not want to follow Brooklyn around all day because I didn't want to make her more nervous with her seeing me staring at her so I only peeked in when I knew she wouldn't see me.

Her Vice Principle took a lot of pictures of her and sent them to me so I could see her doing her thing.

I was so thankful for these two moms. We didn't know each other at all until this weekend and we had so much fun laughing together, crying together, being exhausted together.  I told Chris when I got home that I could not remember the last time I had laughed that hard with friends.  We had such a great time together.

I got to watch Brooklyn's 'Work the Room' round from the second floor.  During this round the kids had to walk up to the adults, introduce themselves and have a conversation with them.  They were judged by how many people they met with along with how well their conversations went.  It was so neat being able to watch her converse with all the other people.  She scored very well in this round.

After this round we had some free time before they were to announce the top 50 that would be moving on.

The adults did some exploring of the school campus before we ate lunch.   Look at these classrooms!!!

After lunch they announced the 50 that would move on.  Brooklyn did not make it to the next rounds and I knew she would be happy with that decision.  When I found her after the announcement she was jumping up and down with excitement because she DIDN'T have to go on.  She really did not enjoy this competition.  It was too much and that is fine, it wasn't her thing and that is fine.  She did what she came to do and didn't give up even though she wanted to. I was proud that she made it as far as she did and it was a great experience for her either way.  Out of the 250 kids that were there she scored 102 so I'll take it.

The pressure was off for this sweet girl and she could just enjoy the rest of the trip.

The top fifty had interviews with Priah from Stranger Things and we all got to watch.  The girls were all very excited to see a celebrity there.

After a few more pictures we got to head back to the hotel and get cleaned up for dinner and then the girls had to go back for the dance party.

Had to order some fried chicken, collard greens and mashed potatoes!

The next morning we all went to watch the finals of The Amazing Shake.

Then we went to Ponce City Market. We had a few hours to kill before we needed to be at the airport and we wanted to eat so we went to the right place.

Found a delicious mexican restaurant and I enjoyed a spicy margarita!  Brooklyn and I were so exhausted and could no wait to get home.

After we ate we walked around and we found the dessert section.  There were so many cute spots to get sweets.   We decided on gelato but wanted to try everything!

We eventually headed back to the hotel to get our luggage and then to the airport to wait a little more for our flight home.

 

We were back home late but so happy to climb in our own beds.  Our trip to Atlanta was a lot, I had moments of fun but there was a lot of stress and I can only imagine how much worse it was for Brooklyn.  She was not a huge fan of competing in The Amazing Shake but she came and she finished what she started and that is all I could ask for.  I think she learned a lot about herself over the weekend and I am so proud of her for everything she does.  It was great either way being able to go on this trip with her and experiencing something new just the two of us.