Send us your photos!

Making new friends, reconnecting with old ones, and capturing memories at the 2012 National LifeSmarts Championship? Be sure to share your best pictures with us! Post them on our Facebook page, or email them to media@nclnet.org so we can share the LifeSmarts love!

Shout out to LifeSmarts sponsors

The LifeSmarts program wouldn't be possible without generous contributions from all our sponsors. The 2012 LifeSmarts National Championship is sponsored by:

Underwriter
Visa

Lead Sponsor
Western Union

LifeSmarts Champion
American Century Investments Foundation
Google

Team Builder
McNeil Consumer Healthcare
Toyota Financial Services

Question Master
Bridgestone Retail Operations
Experian

Expert
American Express
CBM Credit Education Foundation

Scorekeeper
Underwriters Laboratories

Day One standings

Team photo gallery live!

Our masterful photographer Eddie has captured everyone's good sides, and this year's lineup of state champion photos is now live! Check your gorgeous self and your teammates (and opponents) out over here in our Facebook photo gallery -- and be sure to tag yourself!

Meet the PA host team

"We're from Dallas -- that's PA, not Texas," said Pennsylvania team captain Decklan Cerza at the coach and captain orientation Saturday night. The PA team from Dallas High School in the north east part of the state (near Scranton, for fans of NBC's The Office) made a short 2.5-hour drive to get to Philadelphia for the 2012 event. Other state champions came from as far as Honolulu, Hawaii!

Thanks for having us, PA! Wonder where we'll be in 2013 ... ?

What's at stake in 2012

LifeSmarts Program Director Lisa Hertzberg shows off this year's top trophy.

Exciting prizes and scholarships are on the line this year at the 2012 National LifeSmarts Championship in Philadelphia! Check this out -- and good luck to all!

First place team - each member receives:

$2,200 in scholarships from Visa, Toyota Financial Services, and Underwriters Laboratories

Gift cards valued at $200

Coach: $1,000 educational grant, gift cards worth more than $100, and a sweet treat gift pack

Second place team - each member receives:

$1,000 in scholarships

Coach: gift cards worth more than $100, and a sweet treat gift pack

Two third place teams - each member receives:

$550 in scholarships

Coach: gift cards worth more than $100, and a sweet treat gift pack

Four fourth place teams - each member receives:

$200 in scholarships 

Coach: gift cards worth more than $100

Topic champions and coach, student, and coordinator of the year each receive fabulous prizes as well!

Checking in and getting settled

FCCLA team from Friona, Texas, checking out the scoreboard and bracket system.

Donna Mancuso and her team from Crosby High in Connecticut getting registered with the lovely Miss Tee, NCL's Office Manager.

The growing mountain of luggage, from near and far all over the United States, as students check in at the Sheraton.

It's really happening!

Alabama has arrived!

The teams are landing in Philly! Team activities will soon begin, and the competition is almost officially underway! Remember to turn in your coach of the year forms by 1pm Monday at the registration desk, and don't forget to check the online scoreboard here to keep track of your team's progress!

Hello from Florida!

Submitted by Neemah Najafi, Florida

We are a team of 4 seniors and 1 freshman from Paxon School for Advanced Studies. We live in Jacksonville, Florida and competed in Tampa and won the title of 2012 Florida Champions. For all of us, this is our first year on a LifeSmarts team. However, our coach Kathryn Loggie has been doing LifeSmarts for several years now. Last year, our school’s team won the Florida title and got 4^th place in the national championship.

To prepare, we meet after school with snacks and drinks and practice doing buzzer questions, multiple choice questions, team activities, and lightning rounds. Each of us on the team picked one of the five categories of LifeSmarts topics to specialize in so as to have a more well-rounded team. We are really excited to go to Philadelphia and look forward to meeting the rest of the teams, especially our sister team, Arizona. And of course we can’t wait to find a great Philly cheesesteak!

Our state coordinator is Gwendolyn Worlds.

Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love!

Let the games begin!

The LifeSmarts team has officially landed in beautiful Philadelphia! (Beautiful, but not for long - check the weather forecast below and consider packing your galoshes and umbrellas.) Teams are being spotted trickling in as well. The 2012 National LifeSmarts Championship kicks off tomorrow. See you tomorrow at the registration desk starting at 12pm. Be sure to get your team photo taken!

We are the Wildcats

Submitted by the Massachusetts team

We are the Wildcats from Milton, Massachusetts. Milton is one of the top places to live in the country, according to Money Magazine. Besides our great school system, I think Money Magazine sees that we are a smaller community less than 10 min. from Boston, have a State Park, The Blue Hills, for skiing and hiking, and in ten minutes we can be at the ocean. In the neighboring community, the city of Quincy, you find the birthplaces of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. If you check the statistics in Boston Magazine, they have Milton listed as one of the top school system in the state.

We also have this really young rapper named Younggod aka Dmoney. Our school system differs from others as Milton is the home to one of the few public French Immersion programs in the country which means you can have all your lessons taught in French in the younger grades to help you become bi-lingual. We also have the highest concentration of Irish in the country (40 percent).

Our team members are Jack Caljouw (Sophomore), Aaron Chiu (Senior), Pat Kelly(Senior), Devon Stanley (Junior), and Mona Yuan, (Junior). Most of us became involved with Lifesmarts through classes taught by Mr. Arenburg. He had us doing practice quizzes in our classes. which led to an interest of a Lifesmarts' club after school.

We have prepared for this competition by practicing with buzzers, Teamsmarts, and online quizzes. Our key strategy is repetition so we will be familiar with the tournament format and the questions. However, the Lifesmarts'competition here in Massachusetts was extremely tough. In the competition we were not always aware of our score, so we would be really nervous and scared. Our opponents were CHALLENGING CONTESTANTS, especially since most of them had more experience than us. In the final round of the state tournament, we were practically tied with our opposing team until the end. It was really nerve-racking. As a team, this year was our second time competing at the state level and it will be our first time at the Nationals.

Our coaches are Mr. Arenburg and Mrs. Mikels. Mr. Arenburg teaches Personal Finance and Technology. He started Lifesmarts as an extracurricular activity at our high school in 2006. Mrs. Mikels is a math teacher and has assisted Mr. Arenburg for the past four years with this club.

We are looking forward to traveling to Philadelphia. Not only do we get to miss school, we get an extended vacation. We feel honored to be able to represent the State of Massachusetts and our High School. We are excited to meet new people and to see how we will do in the competition.

Thank you for hosting us. It should be a great four days.

Can't join us in Philly? Stay up to date online

Even if you can’t join the National Consumers League and the LifeSmarts state champions in Philadelphia for the 2012 National LifeSmarts Championship, you can still catch the action online!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Semi-finals- 9 am Eastern Daylight
Finals- 10:45 am EDT

Nationals Blog

Here at www.lifesmartsnationals.blogspot.com, NCL will provide frequently updated content, like team photos, stories, and a regularly updated competition grid, so you can chart your team’s progress from home!

Live Streaming!

This year, watch the final morning of competition live online at www.lifesmarts.org!

Stay tuned in to this blog and lifesmarts.org to keep up with this year's excitement!