DP News

March 21, 2010

‘LifeSmarts’ team is best, advances to nationals

By Sarah Hite shite@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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Kevin Hunter may receive a unique present for his 17th birthday.

Hunter is part of the Dallas High School LifeSmarts team, which recently advanced to the LifeSmarts National Championship for the second time.

The school’s LifeSmarts team won the 2010 “LifeSmarts Consumer Challenge” state competition March 2 in Harrisburg. The victory allows Dallas to represent the state in the 16th Annual LifeSmarts National Championship April 24-27 in Miami, Fla.

The final day of the competition, April 27, is Hunter’s 17th birthday.

“Wouldn’t that be a great birthday present?” asked Kevin West, the school’s LifeSmarts adviser, to Hunter, who couldn’t help but agree.

LifeSmarts is a consumer challenge competition for high school students across the nation. Nine Pennsylvania high schools competed for the state title.

Dallas also qualified for the LifeSmarts National Championship in 2003 and placed third.

“It’s very gratifying,” Principal Jeffrey Shaffer said of the win. “You see top quality kids at their best here...they’re strong representatives of the school because of the way they conduct themselves and how friendly they are.”

Members of the Dallas LifeSmarts team who competed in the 2010 state competition are Katelyn Reinert, team captain; Kevin Hunter, Pierce Donovan, Tim Reinert and Monica Esopi.

West has served as the team’s coach since 2005. Catherine Wega, a retired teacher who is now a member of the Dallas School Board, coached the team to the national competition in 2003.

West said the team qualified for the state-level competition the past three years and placed third all three years.

“A lot of what these kids know is because of all of their teachers,” West said. “They have to have a great variety of background in all areas.”

The National Consumer League, in partnership with nonprofit organizations, government agencies and educational organizations, makes the competition available to teens in every state. The Attorney General’s Office plans and implements the program for Pennsylvania.

The nine top-scoring teams were chosen for their scores on three separate tests posted online and invited to the state finals

The Internet-based competition asked students a host of questions related to such topics as personal finances, the environment, technology, consumer rights and responsibilities and health and safety.

Each student earned points for correctly answered questions. Their team score was determined by the average of the top four student scores from each school.

“It’s like a trivia game kind of, only it centers around topics,” Katelyn Reinert said.

Immediately after the state competition, the Dallas team was presented with the winning trophy. Each team member also received a $100 savings bond and an individual achievement certificate.

West said the Dallas students were supported by Sen. Lisa Baker, who met with the students in Harrisburg. A representative from Rep. Karen Boback’s office also took a photo with the students, West said.

In addition, Dallas School District Assistant Superintendent Paul Reinert attended the state competition. Reinert is the uncle of team members Katelyn and Tim Reinert.

West said approximately 25 students participate in the Dallas LifeSmarts Club. He selected the top five scoring students, four competitors and one alternate, to take to the competition based on the students’ scores during club practices.

For the first time this year, the students who competed were the same students who competed last year.

“We were a lot more comfortable,” Esopi said.

The students practice for competition by utilizing sample questions on the LifeSmarts Web site.

West has also compiled a book of relevant questions for practice.

The group meets during flex period at school and stays for an hour and a half after school twice a week to practice.

The district also purchased special LifeSmarts computer software to help the students prepare.

On a recent afternoon, the students answered various questions, including “What does PIN stand for?” (Personal Identification Number) and “Name the four basic cuts of beef” (chuck, loin, rib and round).

“Our plan right now is to continue to do what we’ve been doing because it’s been working,” West said. “The reason why the competition is so challenging is because there are no set questions to actually go off of. As a coach, my job is, to the best of my ability, to find as many questions in those areas as I can.”

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