RI State LifeSmarts champions from North Providence H.S. (seated) are congratulated by the 2nd place team from Barrington H.S.
Contact: Jim Hedemark
401.385.9411 | email
North Providence High Team to GO to ‘Frisco!!!
Inspired come-from-behind victory crowns team from North Providence High School Rhode Island LifeSmarts Champion
March 4th, 2005 - at the URI University Club eight qualified teams (of 4 high school competitors) answered consumer knowledge based questions in a game show format – with the team from North Providence High School besting the Barrington Eagles team in a close winner-takes-all match. The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition (founded in 2004) is an coalition of dozens of Ocean State and New England region businesses, community organizations, educational institutions, government agencies and officers. The coalition¹s mission is “to increase the financial literacy of individuals in Rhode Island.” The coalition¹s website is www.rijumpstart.org # # #
The North Providence High School team, whose coach Susan Bennett stated, “We were just looking to have a good experience, not to win,” lost their first match to the Barrington Eagles, then won four (4) straight matches that involved back-to-back wins over the strong Barrington Eagles team, who until the final two matches had not lost.
The North Providence team has qualified to represent Rhode Island in the national LifeSmarts competition in San Francisco, CA, April 16-19, 2005.
LifeSmarts competitors answer questions in a fast-paced, game show format involving the following topical areas:personal finance, consumer rights & responsibilities, health & safety, the environment and technology.
Rhode Island Attorney General, Patrick Lynch, spoke to the competitors at their lunch break and is a strong supporter of the LifeSmarts program. He encouraged the student-players to continue their good work and focus on academics and consumer issues as they will soon be entering a dynamic financial and consumer marketplace.
Teams from Barrington, Burrillville, Coventry, Scituate and North Providence High Schools competed.
The Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition and the University of Rhode Island Center for Personal Financial Education joined with the support of other organizations to offer the LifeSmarts experience in Rhode Island.
LifeSmarts… the ultimate consumer challenge is a program of the National Consumers League (NCL). State Coordinators implement the program locally. The NCL’s communications department can provide more information at: 202/835-3323 or www.lifesmarts.org, regarding the national program. The NCL, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. The mission of the NCL is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. NCL is a private, non-profit membership organization.
Funding for the Rhode Island LifeSmarts competition has been made available by; The National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) through funding from the United States Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement, Verizon, and The New England Regional Council of Carpenters Local Union #94, and MetLIfe Auto & Home.
In 2006, for the first time, Rhode Island high school seniors participated in the national Jump$tart Coalition personal financial literacy survey that measures teenagers¹ knowledge of personal financial literacy topics. Rhode Island high school seniors answered 48.8% of the questions correctly. The national average was 52.4%. For more details on the national survey, please click here.
