Posted: 3/21/06
LifeSmarts team wins state title
Will attend national contest in April
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
State champions.
Five Caledonia LifeSmarts students earned those two prestigious words on March 14.
Brooke Christian, Andrew Neumann, Nathalie Besse, Amelia Schaller, and Katie Schutz competed against 16 other teams at Metro State University in St. Paul. The students are members of the schoolís Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) organization.
The team is coached by teacher Sally Mensink, the FCCLA advisor. Assistant coach is Mary Ann Christian.
LifeSmarts is a consumer education competition that tests teens in grades 9-12 about personal finance, health and safety, the environment, technology and consumer rights and responsibilities.
The Caledonia team was one of 27 teams that qualified for the state tournament by scoring well in an online competition. The state contest was live, and had three rounds in each match.
In the first round, students answered questions individually. In the second round they could consult on answers. Speed was important in the third ìlightingî round, because the first team to hit a buzzer got to answer the question.
Caledonia actually lost its first match of the day to Red Rock Central (RRC). That didnít surprise the team members. ìBecause weíve never practiced,î Christian explained. ìWe didnít study any of the questions.î
Besse thought she would be back at school in time for track practice.
That didnít happen. They won the next four matches, which set up a rematch with RRC. Caledonia won that, then beat the RRC again to claim the state championship.
So how did they win without studying? All of the students credited the classes and teachers at Caledonia High School. ìThe teachers, they just taught us and we remembered it,î Christian said.
The questions covered technology, money, government, environment, economy, health. ìIt was about life,î Besse said.
Parents helped too, Christian said. For example, she was taught to unplug the toaster at home, and sure enough, the question of why you should unplug appliances was asked during the contest. ìBecause itís a fire hazard,î Christian said.
Heading to nationals
Caledonia will now represent Minnesota at the National Life-Smarts competition April 22-25, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Students will be asking businesses to help fund the trip. It wonít be cheap, Schutz said, with hotel rooms at $150 a night plus a 14 percent tax. (Katie knows things like that.) ìSo now we have to make money,î she said.
Schutz said the players felt humble about the victory, but she was quick to add, ìWe should get rings, state rings!î
Will they study for the national title? ìOh yeah,î Neumann responded immediately.
But maybe not too much. ìThe thing is we had fun doing it,î Neumann explained. ìEveryone else was so serious.î
Mensink said she was very proud of her team. ìThese are kids who have high grade point averages, participate in sports, hold down jobs, and are involved in a multitude of other activities,î she said. ìThey worked hard to bring home this trophy. The trophy must be shared with all of the dedicated teaching staff in Caledonia who do a wonderful job of preparing their students for life.î
Barb Grieman, coordinator of the Minnesota LifeSmarts program, agreed with that. ìCaledonia produced high online scores again this year and we knew they would do very well at the state level,î Grieman said. ìAs they continued to correctly answer question after question, you could see the judges nodding ñ they were very impressed with this team.î
Caledoniaís FCCLA has participated in the state competition for the past six years, but this is its first victory.
The Better Business Bureau coordinates the Minnesota LifeSmarts program. The program is sponsored nationally by the National Consumers League in Washington, D.C.
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