GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Dozens of Ottawa Hills High School students are competing for a chance at a scholarship.

It’s the first year of Grand Rapids Public Schools’ multiround competition known as the Ottawa Gauntlet. While there’s a reward on the line, it’s also an opportunity for students to gain valuable life skills.

Ottawa Hills junior Tanel Quinones is among dozens of students taking part in the competition. He said he has learned “more communication and stepping out of my shell” through the program.

“Stepping out, actually talking, getting to meet new people and (getting) to show them what type of person I am,” he said.

About 40 students applied to join the competition. Nearly 30 of them, grades nine through 12, took part in round one on Monday at Ottawa Hills. The top 20 students moved onto round 2, which was Wednesday at Grand Valley State University’s Seidman Center in Grand Rapids.

The competition includes tasks designed to resemble real-life situations that students may encounter down the road. On Wednesday, for example, they joined a mock talk show and discussed the role social media plays in their lives.

In another scenario, they were asked to give a 60-second speech highlighting gratitude to someone in their lives. It was an exercise designed to build public speaking skills and appreciation. Quinones gave a speech dedicated to his family and thanked them for their support.

Other exercises included making a good impression on a college recruiter and making a sales pitch to a potential customer.

Ottawa Hills art teacher Jennifer Sharp helped bring the idea to life. She was inspired by a similar program at a school in Atlanta.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, our kids need this,'” she said.

When the competition ends next month, the winner will get a $5,000 scholarship to pay for college or trade school. That’s made possible by a gift from an anonymous business in Grand Rapids. Three runners-up will each receive $2,000 scholarships, which were donated from New York Life Insurance.

Sharp hopes everyone will gain something special.

“I’m hoping they’re going to feel confident in their own skills that they already had inside them,” she said. “We weren’t working for scratch here. We were just trying to bring them out.”

She said the competition should help students express themselves in a “way they haven’t been able to before.”

“They need to be able to be articulate and dig deep sometimes and use personal experiences to help shape how they present themselves to the world,” she said. “I think it all comes down to their ability to believe in themselves.”

The top 10 finalists will compete Dec. 5 at Ottawa Hills High School. The top four will finish the competition later that month.