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!