News

March 5, 2010

Dallas takes state Lifesmarts Challenge title

The student team now heads for the national competition on consumer skills.

By Sarah Hite shite@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
Sarah Hite on Facebook   |   https://twitter.com/#!/@TLSarahHite on Twitter

Dallas High School has made it to the LifeSmarts National Championship for the second time.

The school’s LifeSmarts team won the 2010 LifeSmarts Consumer Challenge state competition held Tuesday in Harrisburg. The victory means Dallas will represent the state in the 16th Annual LifeSmarts National Championship from April 24-27 in Miami, Fla.

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

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

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.

Kevin West, a Dallas High School science teacher, 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.

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 invited to the state finals, chosen based on their scores on three separate tests that were posted online.

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

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

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.

Tweet	Follow @TLnews

This story also appears on the following websites...