March Smartness heats up in Rhode Island!

Now that we are officially halfway through March, nationals are closer than ever. FOX Providence recently ran a great follow-up March Smartness segment. Check it out:

And congratulations to Rhode Island's winning team! The Lincoln School (Providence, RI) is pictured below shortly after winning the Consumer Cup and becoming the RI 2011 LifeSmarts State Champions, March 11, 2011 at the Rhode Island State House.

The team is comprised of (seated left to right) Megan Morrow (Captain), Addie Bodell, Maggie Savoie, Olivia Davis-Wilson, Carolyn Impagliazzo, and Coach Catherine DiChiaro (standing center).

“March Smartness” match in session at the Rhode Island State House, Friday, March 11, 2011.

New Hampshire and Maryland teams head to Hollywood

Last week, Inter-Lakes Regional High School beat out Mascoma Valley Regional with a score of 190 to 80, taking the New Hampshire state title. This marks the third consecutive year the team has won the LifeSmarts state championship.

From left: Kathleen Belanger, NH Jump$tart Chair & LifeSmarts State Coordinator, Teddy Willey,Sven Gustafson, Cody, Cook, Austin Hart, Galen Muskat and Coach Chuck Bates.

Congratulations Next Generation Team from Frederick County, Maryland!

State Winners: Cobey England, Nick Martin, Robert Dickens, Julie Roberson and Maura Taylor – Team Captain

Sandi Roberts, former Frederick County, MD national team winning coach, served as the Question Master!

Remember to send all your competition photos to danield@nclnet.org!

March Smartness underway!

Check out this great video on the LifeSmarts program from FOX Providence.

The intensity and excitement of March Smartness captured: a grid shot from mid-way through the Minnesota competition.

Eat your heart out NCCA: the Minnesota 1st place trophy

Congratulations to Hawaii's winning team from Iolani High School.
From left: Keali'i Lopez from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, team members Erin Nishimura, Lauren Faris, Barbara Reichart, John Ishida, Cody Petro Sakuma, and Kathy Morris from Hawaii Credit Union League.

Click here to read a great Dollars & Sense column on LifeSmarts by Star-Trib's John Ewoldt!

States continue to crown their champions

Now that we are in the second week of March, the Lifesmarts National Championship draws ever closer! Here are some more recent state champions:

Pennsylvania winners from North East High School. From left to right: Katie Perkins, Annette Haibach, Taylor Burnham, April Meehl, and John Hupp. PA's winning team was featured in the Erie Times-News, click here to read.

Kentucky winners from Mason County High School. The "Royal Pains" took the state title in Kentucky last year as well. The Royal Pains team includes Connor Appelman, Garric Buzzard, Amrita Srinivasan, Andy Ward and Parker Segal.
Click here to read more about the Royal Pains.

Good luck to Belmont High School, Inter-Lakes of Meredith, Mascoma Valley of West Canaan, Merrimack High School, Raymond High School, and Winnacunnet High School, who will all be competing for the New Hampshire state title tomorrow, March 9th.

Behind the Scenes: Building the best LifeSmarts

As LifeSmarts coordinators, participants, and coaches all know, the ultimate goal of the program is to teach teens to be informed, responsible consumers who can successfully navigate today’s complex marketplace. To help achieve this critical goal, and to keep the program as fresh and relevant as possible, more than two dozen experts in consumer issues gathered at Toyota Headquarters in Torrance, CA for the first ever LifeSmarts Summit.

For three intense days in late January, Summit participants dissected LifeSmarts topic areas, discussed the current state of young consumers and the vital issues facing them, explored educational theory, and ultimately captured dozens of new teaching tools for LifeSmarts coaches and curriculum users.

The difficulty of putting parameters on the study of consumer sciences, a field that is constantly changing, emerged as a central issue among summit participants. In the face of rapidly developing new technologies, financial tools and services, environmental concerns, and the phasing in and out of products, selecting the most important issues facing teens was a main focus of the summit.

Summit experts all agreed that content literacy is a top program priority, as students need repeated exposure to carefully-selected vocabulary and concepts in order to integrate them effectively into their lives. LifeSmarts Summit attendees rose to the challenge of defining the essential vocabulary and determining the must-have knowledge and survival skills teens need upon their entry into the real world, and the LifeSmarts program is stronger for it.

Thanks again to all the summit participants and here’s to a great LifeSmarts program in 2011 and beyond!

Long-time friend Don Zabelin, retired Illinois teacher / LS coach / LS coordinator, stirring things up at the LifeSmarts Summit