National Consumers League honors student leaders from Jefferson City, MO; Chillicothe, MO; and Brookville, IN – National Consumers League

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May 22, 2015

Contact: National Consumers League’s Carol McKay, (412) 945-3242, carolm@nclnet.org

Washington, DC—Today the National Consumers League (NCL) has announced awards to students in two states for their involvement in a community service and leadership initiative, made possible through its consumer literacy program, LifeSmarts (lifesmarts.org). The students were awarded $750 academic scholarships for their winning entries based on their experiences serving as Safety Smart® Ambassadors, a partnership between LifeSmarts and UL that pairs high school students with elementary classrooms to teach lessons about health, safety, and the environment.

The students being honored are:

  • Luke Dyer, Blair Oaks High School, Jefferson City, MO
  • Ashley Forck, Blair Oaks High School, Jefferson City, MO
  • Alexis Knouse, Grand River Technical School, Chillicothe, MO
  • Ashlie Raible, Franklin County High School, Brookville, IN

In the 2014-15 program year, 300 LifeSmarts students became Safety Smart Ambassadors. Working as teams, high school students made more than 200 interactive, 30-minute presentations, sharing empowering, educational safety messages with 3,500 younger children throughout their communities. LifeSmarts is a national program that competitively tests high school students’ knowledge of consumer awareness, with subjects including personal finance, health and safety, consumer rights and responsibility, technology, and the environment.

“We are so proud of our students who participated in the Safety Smart Ambassador program and the positive impact they made on their communities, and especially these four stand-outs,” said LifeSmarts Program Director Lisa Hertzberg. “We truly appreciate this partnership with UL. It has been extremely gratifying to see LifeSmarts students embrace the Safety Smart Ambassador program, provide education and mentoring to younger children, and learn about themselves in the process.”

In addition to adding the service-learning Safety Smart Ambassador program to LifeSmarts, the partnership has given the LifeSmarts program access to the vast knowledge base of UL and provided resources for LifeSmarts to expand its content on science and the environment and create new resources and challenges for competitors.

For more information, please visit www.LifeSmarts.org

2015 Safety Smart Ambassador award winners – in their own words 

Having the opportunity to work with these kids was a great experience. I definitely enjoyed teaching them and seeing them try new things. Seeing their facial expressions when they would eat new fruits and vegetables was memorable! Also, the bonds we built with those students in just a short amount of time were impressive. They felt they made a new friend and could connect with us. Having the influence of being a student ambassador was inspiring to all the high school students in my business class who participated. – Alexis Knouse

This project was a learning experience all around! We received very good reviews from the students and teachers and were encouraged by their enjoyment of the program. – Luke Dyer 

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to do the Safety Smart videos with the elementary school students.  It was amazing to see how involved they were getting, how closely they were paying attention, and how enthused they were about applying the information they learned into their own lives. – Ashlie Raible

Safety Smart was a great opportunity for our FCCLA club, the community, the elementary school, and me. Everyone learned so many life abilities that will help him or her be successful in the future. Thank you so much for giving me the great opportunity to spread the message about being Safety Smart; it has given me an overwhelming opportunity to fine-tune and learn new skills that I will use for the rest of my life. – Ashley Forck

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About LifeSmarts and the National Consumers League

LifeSmarts is a program of the National Consumers League. State coordinators run the programs on a volunteer basis. LifeSmarts educational resources are available online throughout the year at www.LifeSmarts.org. Competition begins again in September. For more information, visit: www.lifesmarts.org, email lifesmarts@nclnet.org or call the National Consumers League’s communications department at 202-835-3323.

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.