Marshall High School takes Virginia

By Brandi Williams, LifeSmarts Program Manager

This was my third year attending the Virginia LifeSmarts state competition in Richmond. Held on the gorgeous University of Richmond campus on a beautiful early spring day, teams from across Virginia competed for the chance to represent the Commonwealth at the National LifeSmarts Championship in Philadelphia.

Following the Nationals format, the Virginia competition used cumulative scoring to determine its finalists. This added tons of excitement to the competition, since it allowed all teams to remain in the running for most of the day! The Honorable Matt Lohr, Commissioner of Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences, served as Question Master for the Final match between the Marshall High School Statesmen I team and the Henrico County 4-H WYSIWIG team, and the match was close! But the Statesmen I took the competition and title of Virginia State Champion by one question, and I look forward to seeing them again at Nationals!

As always, I had a fantastic time at the competition in Richmond. The dedicated members of the Virginia LifeSmarts Coalition always strive to give the amazing teams who attend the annual competition a meaningful, educational and, most of all, fun experience, and they succeeded again this year. Thanks to the leadership of Dr. Celia Ray Hayhoe, Virginia’s long-time state LifeSmarts coordinator, everyone had an amazing time. I can’t wait to do it again next year!

Remembering Dr. Celia Ray Hayhoe

Dr. Celia Ray Hayhoe, left, with NCL Board Chair Anna Flores,
at the 2011 LifeSmarts Summit in Los Angeles.

By Brandi Williams, LifeSmarts Program Manager

It was with great sadness that we recently learned that long-time LifeSmarts Virginia state coordinator, Dr. Celia Ray Hayhoe, passed away on March 16, 2012. Dr. Hayhoe was one of the most caring people I have ever met. In 2009 she invited me to my very first LifeSmarts competition in Richmond, and welcomed my questions (and sometimes befuddlement) with warmth and kindness. It was such a surprise to hear of Dr. Hayhoe's passing, as I’d seen her only the week prior at the 2012 Virginia LifeSmarts competition, working hard to make the event as special and memorable for the participants as she possibly could.

Dr. Hayhoe worked tirelessly to support the people and programs she cared about. Although she was stepping down as the Virginia LifeSmarts coordinator this summer, she assured me that she was planning to remain an active member of the Virginia LifeSmarts Coalition. Her daughter Janice shared with me that Dr. Hayhoe truly cared about LifeSmarts. “I’m sure there is a big part of her that will always be a part of the programs that she really loved and supported,” Janice wrote. “My mom took her work very seriously and she truly cared for the people she worked with and the people they helped. Her dream was to help others feel safe and have some security in their lives so that they could follow their dreams; she accomplished this dream every day of her life. I know her spirit will forever live on in our hearts.”

Since joining the LifeSmarts team in 2005, Dr. Hayhoe went above and beyond the call of duty, making contributions to the program that would have a lasting impact. At the first ever LifeSmarts Summit in 2011, Dr. Hayhoe strongly encouraged LifeSmarts staff to build into the program’s curriculum a stronger emphasis on real-life consumer issues teens face immediately upon entering adulthood, such as renter’s rights.

“Celia was a staunch, thoughtful advocate for consumer education, and she challenged us to improve the LifeSmarts program over the years,” said Lisa Hertzberg, LifeSmarts Director, who worked with Celia during her seven years as LifeSmarts coordinator. “Celia had a measurable impact on the program, in her state, and at the national level, and LifeSmarts is a richer, better program thanks to her.”

Dr. Hayhoe was an associate professor and Family Resource Management Extension Specialist at Virginia Tech. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Family and Consumer Resources with a minor in Finance and was a Certified Financial Planner and faculty member in the Department of Apparel, Housing and Resource Management. Dr. Hayhoe recently developed the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Financial Education Volunteers Program with Extension’s Family Financial Management Leadership Team and AmeriCorp Vista partnership.

Dr. Hayhoe touched many lives very deeply, including my own. She will be sorely missed.

Energy-packed state competition hosted in Richmond, VA

By Brandi Williams, LifeSmarts Program Assistant

With a format that closely resembles the National LifeSmarts Championship, the Virginia LifeSmarts Competition is a fast-paced, energy-packed event that is fun to both watch and be a part of. The Virginia LifeSmarts competition was held on March 5 in Richmond, just 100 miles away from the National Consumers League’s Washington, DC office. I kept my fingers crossed all the way there, in hopes that I’d brought along the right shoes – the Virginia LifeSmarts Coalition, which coordinates the state program, puts everyone to work!

Virginia LifeSmarts held its 15^th state competition at the Virginia Commonwealth University campus located in downtown Richmond. Hosting 11 teams and running up to five competition rooms simultaneously, Virginia’s competition was a busy one that required the combined efforts of coalition members and volunteers to run smoothly and effectively. The LifeSmarts Coalition, headed by Dr. Celia Hayhoe of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), recruited and coordinated more than 30 volunteers to officiate in competition rooms.

As each match increased in difficulty, the final round of competition was between George C. Marshall High School and Maggie Walker Governor’s School. Teams in the audience cheered these surviving two teams on, as they battled it out for the state title. At the end of a nail-biting match, the Maggie Walker Green Dragons eventually took the Virginia State Champion title.

Teams and officials were particularly excited to have the Honorable Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, officiate as Question Master for the final round of competition. General Cuccinelli was a natural first-time QM, making sure that the top two teams were at ease on the final match stage. Question Master for the semi-final rounds of competition was Assistant Attorney General Courtney Malveaux, a long-time supporter of LifeSmarts and regular volunteer official at the Virginia LifeSmarts competition.

This Just In! Tuesday Matches Set

The four Semi-Finalists have been determined!

Matches start at 9 am tomorrow.

Virginia vs. Illinois
New Hampshire vs. Arizona

VA, NH Headed to Semi-Finals!

Virginia and New Hampshire have made their way through the Winners Bracket and are headed to tomorrow's semi-finals. Still to be determined in the Consolation Bracket are the other two semi-finalists, which will be revealed in the next hour by matches currently underway between:

Rhode Island vs. Tennessee
Illinois vs. Missouri
Kentucky vs. Arizona
Massachusetts vs. Kansas