DCCA Seeks Teams for LifeSmarts Competition

In LifeSmarts’ 11-year history with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, over 850 students from across the state have participated in the competition. Registation for the 2015-2016 competition is now underway.

LifeSmarts is a national educational program that begins at the local level through online competition, and teaches students critical life skills in different areas from personal finance, consumer rights and responsibilities, health and safety, and environment and technology.

Four student teams with an adult coach can compete to be one of the four highest scoring teams in the state. From there, a state championship competition will be held in Honolulu and the winning team will go on to represent Hawai’i at the national LifeSmarts competition next February in Denver.

“We are excited to sponsor another year of the LifeSmarts Hawai’i program and we encourage teachers and youths statewide to sign up a team or teams to gain or strengthen their life skills,” said Securities Commissioner Ty Nohara.

The competition is open to all high-school students, however, middle school students in grades six through eight that are interested in creating a team can do so by creating a “junior varsity” team that will only participate in the online version of the competition and will be recognized online.

Online competition will begin on Oct. 26 and last through Dec. 4, with the state championship on Feb. 20. The national LifeSmarts competition is scheduled for April 9-12, 2016.

To learn more about the LifeSmarts Hawai’i program, including resources for coaches, visit the LifeSmarts website or contact the LifeSmarts State Coordinator, Theresa Kong Kee, at 587-7400 or e-mail tkongkee@dcca.hawaii.gov.