LifeSmarts Club Meeting: Friday - Room 30 Summer Program: 1. Complete 100 practice quizzes and maintain an average of 75% 2. Learn all of the personal finance vocabulary terms http://www.lifesmarts.org/ LifeSmarts is a fun program, run by the National Consumers League, that encourages high school students to learn about the consumer issues they face today and the new challenges that are right around the corner! What Does LifeSmarts Teach Teens? LifeSmarts is a flexible classroom or group activity that teaches teens to be smart and responsible consumers and citizens. The content and competition questions focus on five key areas of consumer knowledge that teens need to know to function effectively in today’s marketplace. These are: Personal Finance Health and Safety Environment Technology Consumer Rights and Responsibilities In addition to the important information and knowledge that participants gain, they also develop teamwork, self-esteem, verbal communication skills, leadership abilities, and have fun competing. LifeSmarts changes behavior toward better decision-making and better use of money and resources. It provides teens with a good understanding of their consumer rights and responsibilities. Because many teens begin work during high school, LifeSmarts helps them understand workplace protections, too. It teaches them to spot and avoid frauds and scams, and to make smart choices. Brochures, booklets, videos, teaching guides, textbooks, Web sites, and other educational resources provided by governmental agencies, businesses, consumer groups, and trade associations are the source of this information that can easily be obtained by any consumer. What’s in it for Students? LifeSmarts…the Ultimate Consumer Challenge helps students learn about their consumer rights and responsibilities and develop marketplace smarts. Competitions are fun and exciting, but there is so much more to the program. Participants meet new friends, win prizes, have an opportunity to travel to different parts of their state and country, and meet important business, government, consumer and labor leaders. Students work in teams, build communications skills, and hone leadership qualities. How Do Teens Get Started? 1. Players need to work with an adult coach who will coordinate and register the team. 2. Students may help recruit other classmates, members of a club or organization, or start an after-school LifeSmarts group. Teams must have at least four players on them, but they may be much larger (some online teams have hundreds of students on them). 3. Teammates can work together to sharpen their knowledge about personal finance, consumer rights and responsibilities, health and safety, the environment and technology. Players can start by using the resources and links provided on this site. 4. Players register to take the practice quizzes. 5. Players can test their “LifeSmarts” by taking as many practice quizzes as they wish. 6. A self-study page will be created for each player taking the practice quizzes. This page contains links to help the player study topics they missed. 7. When players are ready to take the competition quizzes, they will login. 8. Players will complete three levels of competition quizzes. The quizzes can be taken all at one time, or over a period of time. Once a player starts a competition quiz, the player must finish that round of 20 questions. 9. In order to qualify for in-person play, a player must complete all three levels of the quiz within the timeframe for his or her state’s online competition. 10. If a team has at least four players who complete all three levels of the competition quiz, the team will be eligible to move to an in-person competition. State coordinators determine the number of qualifying teams in each state.