February 26, 2008

Attorney General Tom Corbett names North East High School 2008 "LifeSmarts" State Champions: Team Advances to Nationals in Minneapolis, Minnesota

HARRISBURG -Attorney General Tom Corbett named North East High School, Erie County, the 2008 "LifeSmarts Consumer Challenge" state champions following today's competition held in Harrisburg. The victory means North East will represent Pennsylvania in the National LifeSmarts competition to be held this April in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

LifeSmarts is a consumer challenge competition for high school students across the nation. Nine Pennsylvania high schools competed for the state title. The runner-up in the state competition was Cumberland Valley High School, Cumberland County.

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

The nine Pennsylvania schools that qualified to compete in the state championship round are located in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Lancaster, Luzerne, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Corbett said the nine top scoring teams were invited to the state finals and were 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.

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The coaches of the winning teams used a variety of methods to practice for the state finals. Many say to hone their skills as a team they conducted live mock demonstrations of the finals, which is similar to the game show Jeopardy.

Corbett congratulated the following schools for competing in the state finals:

Berks County
Schuylkill Valley High School
929 Lakeshore Drive, Leesport

Cumberland County
Cumberland Valley High School
5746 Carlisle Pike, Mechanicsburg

Dauphin County
Halifax High School
3940 Peters Mountain Road, Halifax

Delaware County
Radnor Senior High School
130 King of Prussia Road, Radnor

Erie County
North East High School
1901 Freeport Road, North East

Lancaster County
Conestoga Valley High School
2110 Horseshoe Road, Lancaster

Luzerne County
Dallas High School
2000 Conyngham Avenue, Dallas

Washington County
Chartiers Houston High School
2050 West Pike St., Houston

Westmoreland County
Greater Latrobe Senior High School
131 High School Road, Latrobe

North East will represent Pennsylvania at the National LifeSmarts Competition at the National Competitoin on April 12-15, 2008 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Immediately following the competition, the team from North East was presented with the winning trophy. Each team member also received a $100 savings bond and an individual Achievement Certificate.  The runner's up each received a $50 savings bond, individual Achievement Certificates and a trophy.

Corbett identified the new state champs as: Garrett Graham team captain; Sam Shesman, Mari Goepz, Zach Mix, Kaiti Phillilps, and Jeanne Lamb and Greg Henning team coaches.

For additional information on the LifeSmarts Program visit www.lifesmarts.org. To learn how to enter the 2009 competition, contact the Attorney General's LifeSmarts Coordinator, Joyce O'Brien at 717-787-9716 or visit www.attorneygeneral.gov.

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