Students in southeast Alabama, District II, participated in the first national LifeSmarts competition for middle school students. Macon County Regional Extension Agent Lelia Downing coached two teams comprised of 13 students from Merritt Elementary School in Bullock County and St. Joseph Catholic School in Macon County.
The National Consumers League developed LifeSmarts, a hands-on program, to address the need for more meaningful consumer education for middle and high school students. LifeSmarts is a unique computer-based, consumer education competition for teens about consumer rights and responsibilities, personal finance, technology, health and safety, and the environment. The competition has been available for high school students for several years, but was piloted for middle school students this year.
When young people graduate from high school, society expects them to possess certain life skills that will allow them to be productive citizens. While some students will have developed these skills, others will face a dramatically different world from the one he or she experienced in high school. Unfortunately, too many young people learn their consumer rights and responsibilities the hard way. LifeSmarts prepares students to answer a broad range of questions about consumer issues and helps to sharpen their survival skills for the world today.
With permission, endorsement, and support from the superintendent, principals and teachers of Merritt Elementary and St. Joseph Catholic Schools, the 13 dedicated students worked very hard for five months studying consumer education to prepare for the online competition. They also prepared by completing sample quizzes and taking sample tests over the Internet.
At the end of February, the two teams competed online against 56 other middle school teams across the nation. Each team member had to complete three tests with 20 questions in each test. As national LifeSmarts announced the results, Merritt Elementary School's team placed sixth nationally and St. Joseph Catholic School's team came in ninth place. Congratulations to the students for their outstanding participation in this pilot project.