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By DAN PODEHL dpodehl@leader.net
Friday, March 14, 2003 Page: 10A
Dallas High School to take strategy used at state tourney to nationals
The five members of Dallas High School’s LifeSmarts academic challenge team
will admit they were nervous heading into the final round of states.
And they had good reason for the jitters.
Standing in their way of a title was four-time state champion North East
High School, which was returning all of its members.
The school from Erie County had finished sixth at the national competition
last year.
It also didn’t help that the five Dallas seniors, Steve Losh, John Beberus,
Bob Murphy, Dan Smith and Michael Yenason, witnessed North East’s thrashing of
two schools in its semifinal round.
“I think we were a little intimidated,” said Beberus, 18, who is headed to
Penn State University to major in finance in the fall. “They dominated their
semifinal match, especially in the buzzer round where they answered 16 out of
20 buzzer questions.”
“It was very intimidating,” added Smith, 18, who will also study finance in
the fall at a college to be determined. “North East blew the other teams out
of the water. As much as I don’t want to say this, it was intimidating to see
that.”
The Back Mountain seniors calmly turned that trepidation into jubilation as
they defeated North East in the LifeSmarts state final match held at The Forum
in Harrisburg on Feb. 25.
LifeSmarts is a statewide consumer-educational program coordinated by state
Attorney General Mike Fisher’s Bureau of Consumer Protection and the National
Coalition for Consumer Education.
The competition allows Pennsylvania teenagers in ninth through 12th grades
to test their consumer knowledge in a fun and rewarding way.
The team’s reward is a trip to the national competition, which will be in
Orlando, Fla., April 26-29.
To become a member of the school’s team, the students had to participate in
a series of three tests held on the Internet. The tests quizzed their consumer
awareness in five areas: personal financial management, health and safety,
environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities.
Students who completed the third and final round and answered correctly on
more than 80 percent of the questions were considered for the state
competition.
The qualifying rounds began in November and ended in January with more than
640 students and their coaches participating through the Internet. The top
nine teams with the highest cumulative score competed in the state
championship.
After defeating Cumberland Valley High School in its semifinal contest,
Dallas formulated a game plan against North East.
“We wanted to come out of the team questions a little ahead or in a tie,
because we knew they had the ability to spring in quick with the buzzers,”
said Murphy, 18, who will study veterinarian science at a college to be
determined.
Murphy and his mates got their wish as the teams entered the competition’s
buzzer portion tied.
And as it turned out, Dallas showed a little quickness of its own thanks to
team captain Losh.
On the first question, North East buzzed in quickly, but gave a wrong
answer, Smith said.
Thanks to the incorrect reply, Dallas gained the opportunity of listening
to the entire question, which it answered correctly.
From there, Losh and his team swiftly buzzed in with three consecutive
answers to jump out to a four-question lead.
“That gave us the confidence of, `Hey, maybe we can do this,’ ” Murphy
said.
“It kind of shook them up,” Smith added. “We kind of went on a roll from
there.”
Dallas never relinquished the lead despite North East closing the gap on
several occasions.
The seniors were also a surprise toward the end of the competition. The
shock came in the form of an extended buzzer round.
“In every other round there were 20 buzzer questions given,” Beberus said.
“We were up by 30 or 40 with a few questions to go, so mathematically I
started smiling. But then they went to question 21, question 22. I was like,
how long are we going to go on?”
“We were so nervous we didn’t pay attention to the rules when they told us
in the beginning that there would be 24 questions,” Smith added. “When he
asked question number 21 my heart dropped. I was like, watch them come back
and kick our butts. But we answered one or two more to seal the lead.”
Although the victory may have been a surprise to North East, it wasn’t to
Catherine Wega, one of the team’s two coaches. Candyce Fike is the assistant
coach.
“Once I saw the names of the students selected and I told them, their level
of enthusiasm was really high,” said Wega, who noted that Dallas has placed a
team in the state finals of the competition in each of its four years
competing. “They were so eager. These are terrific kids.”
As for nationals, the team will take the same approach it did at states.
“This was kind of something that was just dropped into our laps and we
didn’t know much about it,” said Losh, 17, who will study computer science at
Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. “We’re hoping to do well.”
“It’s been a team effort,” said Yenason, 18, who will study finance at a
college to be determined. “Everyone has contributed equally. We’re excited.”