The social and soft-skills competition among Galesburg School District students known as the “Great Galesburg Shake” has crowned its winner.
But it almost encountered a problem this year. Almost.
“The judges for round six came out to [adviser Barb] Sandstrom and said ‘It was a tie,'” says Diane Van Hootegem, one of the coordinators. “And [Sandstrom] said, ‘Get back in there. We can’t have a tie.'”
But, in the end, Galesburg High School freshman JaCara Kelley was the winner, with Mackenzie Musser coming in second. Kelley tells WGIL she was just as surprised as anyone she bested 120 other competitors.
“They kept calling my name to keep going on to round after round,” says Kelley. “It was very surprising, because I never thought I was good at these types of things.”
In fact, Kelley says before the final five participants got to go on the big trip to New York City for the final two rounds of competition involving the top five competitors, she already had weekend plans.
Kelley tells WGIL she was simply competing in something she was encouraged to take part in.
“I talked to my mom about it a couple of times,” says Kelley. “She kind of said ‘You might as well try it. You went to a private school for so many years, you weren’t really ever aware of what [The Great Galesburg Shake] was. I was in fourth block the day before the prelims, and I turned around to Maddie Carlson, and I said, ‘Do you think I should do it?’ … She said ‘You might as well try it. I never did it, so you might as well do what I never did.'”
Kelley was part of the youngest class yet of finalists and unlike most of the other four, she hadn’t competed in the Great Galesburg Shake before this year.
CLICK HERE to watch the full announcement ceremony via Facebook.
