Financial Literacy Month: National Consumers League challenging teens to be ‘LifeSmart’ at annual consumer education competition – National Consumers League

April 20, 2011

Washington, DC — Just in time for April’s Financial Literacy Month, the National Consumers League (NCL) has announced the 34 state champion teams who have earned a spot at the 2011 National LifeSmarts Championship, which will take place this year in Hollywood, CA, April 30 – May 3. LifeSmarts (www.lifesmarts.org) is NCL’s 17-year-old program that educates teens and tweens on real-world financial and consumer literacy issues.

LifeSmarts is a competitive educational program, in which teams of students begin online. Top-scorers progress to state competitions, and state champion teams meet each April to compete in the National LifeSmarts Championship. Last year’s state champion team from Maryland will return this year to defend its national title. For a complete list of state champions, visit www.lifesmarts.org.

“We are so proud of this year’s state LifeSmarts champions, who have proven themselves to be the best and the brightest of the next generation of consumers,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “LifeSmarts is a fun, fast, educational program, and a great vehicle for educating young consumers. Our program goes in-depth on the issues kids—and adults–are facing now: making smart choices with financial resources, health care, environmental concerns, and how technology affects our lives.”

The 2011 National LifeSmarts Champion and other winning teams will walk away with prizes including scholarships and savings bonds. In addition to placing as a team, individual students have the opportunity to compete for scholarships for demonstrating knowledge in specific program topic areas. The top eight placing teams and five students who earn individual distinction are awarded prizes.

At this year’s competition, NCL will recognize Visa for a recent announcement of a three-year major grant to underwrite the program, sponsor development of personal finance lessons and teaching tools, increase marketing efforts for the LifeSmarts program, and bolster NCL’s outreach on consumer fraud.

2011 National LifeSmarts Championship headed to Hollywood

Consumer-savvy teens representing 34 states will compete at this year’s national event. Throughout the 2010-2011 program year, more than 22,000 teens competed online for a chance to represent their states at the 2011 National LifeSmarts Championship. Players answered more than 3 million consumer questions in the online competition.

Event info

When: April 30 – May 3, 2011

Where: Sheraton Universal City (333 Universal Hollywood Dr., Universal City, CA 91608)

Final match: Tuesday, May 3, 10:45 a.m. PDT / 1:45:p.m. EDT

Awards Ceremony: Noon – 1:30 p.m. PDT / 3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. EDT

Follow the competition online

Parents and teachers can follow the action at the official 2011 National LifeSmarts Championship blog (www.lifesmartsnationals.blogspot.com).

The semi-final and final competition matches will be streamed live at www.lifesmarts.org:

Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Semi-finals- 9 am Pacific Daylight / 12 noon Eastern Daylight
Finals- 10:45 am PDT / 1:45 EDT

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About the National Consumers League and LifeSmarts

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.

LifeSmarts is a program of the National Consumers League. State coordinators run state-based programs on a volunteer basis. For more information, visit: www.lifesmarts.org, email lifesmarts@nclnet.org , or call the National Consumers League’s communications department at 202-835-3323.