SALISBURY — Some of life’s most important skills cannot be learned in a classroom, but that does not mean you cannot teach them in a school.

Hurley Elementary School hosted the Amazing Shake on Friday, which creates a gauntlet of various interview formats for students to participate in, during which time they are graded by judges on such criteria as eye contact, confidence, charisma and, of course, a handshake.

“We wanted to give our students the opportunity to use soft skills and have the opportunity to learn what it means to be a good citizen and what it means to be able to go out into the business world and try new things,” Principal Jennifer Brown said. “We wanted to give them that opportunity, and you go, don’t get that opportunity much in elementary school.”

On Friday, 24 students from the 4th and 5th grades were running the gauntlet. Those 24 students represented the winners from a previous round in which 165 students competed. Scattered throughout the gymnasium were several stations. Each student had one minute at each station to make a lasting impression on the judge.

One of those judges was Robert Jackson, who manages the Food Lion in Cleveland. His interview was set up like a math quiz game show.

Despite the relatively short interview format of Amazing Shake, Jackson said that there were several similarities with how he conducts interviews when he is hiring at Food Lion.

“You are asking how they would relate to whatever the situation is. In that case, it was a math quiz show,” Jackson said. “Those questions could be how would you interact with customers or what is your favorite place to shop. Those are the questions that we ask on the daily, so it really translates out well.”

In his role, Jackson interviews and hires teenagers to work at his store and sees a lot of potential to expand the Amazing Shake into the middle and high school realms.

“I think that it would be great for all the elementary schools to do this exercise,” Jackson said. “You could even do a more advanced version in middle school and high school. From my perspective, I am hiring a lot of high school students, so to do that could be kind of an open interview.”

Following the gauntlet-style interviews, 10 students who graded out the highest went to the library for a 15-minute meet and greet with the judges, where they were instructed to introduce themselves to as many of the judges as they could within that time period.

One of those students, Stella Jennings, did not think she would make it to round 3.

“I was nervous, but in my brain, I knew I was able to do this,” Jennings said. “I knew I was able to accomplish it and probably make it to the top 10.”

When she found out she made the top 10, she said she was still a little shocked and happy.

“A little nervous but happy,” Jennings said. “We only had 15 minutes, and there were so many people in the room, so it made me a little rushed, and I was very hyper.”

Another student, Paisley Lanning, was giving the Amazing Shake a go for the first time.

“It was very nerve-wracking at first,” Lanning said. “It was scary. This is my first year doing it, but I just told myself, you got this, and you are going to do great, and if I don’t, be proud of yourself either way.”

Lanning said that she really enjoyed the interview style set up of the newsroom station, where she answered questions about the school’s Fantastic Friday events.

During Fantastic Friday, students are grouped by grade and get to meet special guests, which include magicians and firefighters.

The newsroom setup offered Lanning a glimpse into a profession that interests her.

“I want to be a sports announcer for ESPN,” Lanning said. “I love sports. I play softball, basketball and volleyball.

“You got to have goals in life. Whatever your goals are, whatever you want to be whenever you get older, this can always help.”

Two winners were selected from round 3 to attend a final competition at Goodfellas in Salisbury. Chef Jose Santos sponsored the event by offering a meal on the house.

Cohen McClendon was among the two finalists and was the eventual champion. Having competed last year but coming up short, this year’s event was particularly confidence-boosting.

“Last year, I did not make it to top 25,” McClendon said. “So I really trained myself through the summer and school year so I could make the top 25. I did not think I was even going to make the top 10, but here I am now; I made it to the top 2.

“It made me feel like I actually did something, I improved, and it made me feel good.”

Going to Goodfellas was something that McClendon might not have planned on when the day began, but after finding out he qualified, his attention turned to dinner.

“I’m going to get some chicken tenders and fries,” McClendon said with a smile. “I hope they don’t judge me. Maybe I’ll get the chicken alfredo.”

The Amazing Shake is taken from the curriculum of the Ron Clark Academy, which hosts an expanded version of the event for students from around the country and the globe.

Brown said that she wants to send McClendon and last year’s winner to that competition in Atlanta.

“They have a little more funding so it is incredible what they do,” Brown said. “They go out to businesses, and they get lots of major companies in Atlanta to participate in this process.”

Brown wants the students to have that opportunity but acknowledges that it’s costly.

“It costs about $1,000 per student to send them,” Brown said. “That includes their stay, food and competition entry.

“It’s a really neat opportunity not just to see what we are doing compared to what they are doing in Atlanta but to have an opportunity to compete against students from all over the world.”

While there could only be two winners, Brown said the experience reflected positively on the entire school.

“I am proud of every one of the students in our building,” Brown said. “They worked really hard to shine every day and got to really show it off to the community today.”