About 60 Campbell Junior High School seventh-graders went through various stations Monday, dialing numbers on a rotary phone, handling disgruntled customers, making a pitch for Cactus Pepper Hot Sauce and more.

In all, students went through about 16 stations during the school’s first in-house Gauntlet competition, part of its new Amazing Shake program.

Judges gave students an unexpected prompt that requires them to think on their feet and then scored students on their performance.

Campbell’s Amazing Shake program is inspired by the national program that tests students on their professional, discipline and skills such as interviewing, respect, eye contact and a proper handshake. Leah Adams, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at RDC, previously told The Sun she and other staff learned about the program while visiting Mason County schools.

Campbell’s program kicked off in the fall and led to a yearlong effort centered around supporting the practice of soft skills. Students completed a community service project in the fall during which they collected hygiene products for veterans and put together a project for the school’s annual Veteran’s Day program.

In February, seventh graders Maggie Zeysing, Anna Wilson and Ella Brock attended the national Amazing Shake competition after scoring high at the state competition in Mason County.

Adams and other faculty decided to host an in-house competition to allow more students to experience the competition and further the practice of soft skills.

Adams said 10 students with the highest total scores move on to the next round Wednesday during which students will present a speech they wrote either in favor or in opposition of their selected topic.

Numerous leaders in the community judged Monday’s competition including Mayor Ed Burtner, Superintendent Paul Christy, City Commissioner Ramsey Flynn, County Clerk Michelle Turner and more.

Cindy Banks, executive director of the Winchester-Clark County Chamber of Commerce, said Campbell’s students impressed her.

“I have some renewed hope,” she said.

Adams said she plans to use the feedback about this year’s event to make next year’s bigger and better. Eventually, she said she would like to see all students involved.

“We want to build the whole student, not just the kid that can score well on social studies on K-PREP,” Adams said. “ … Our kids are more than test scores.”