Terry Goddard Congratulates LifeSmarts National Champions

(Phoenix, Ariz. – April 18, 2008) Attorney General Terry Goddard today congratulated the Flagstaff Home Educators team for its victory this week in the national LifeSmarts competition in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Over the course of the four-day competition, the team of Flagstaff high school students successfully answered questions about five areas of consumer knowledge important for teens. They defeated the reigning national champions from New Mexico as well as teams from Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Illinois.

LifeSmarts is an educational program run by the National Consumer League that helps teens develop the financial skills necessary to be responsible consumers and citizens. The Flagstaff Home Educators team, coached by Jennifer Bearchell, earned the opportunity to represent Arizona in the national competition by placing first in a preliminary online competition conducted earlier this school year. Nationwide, more than 20,000 high school students participated the online competition.

“Understanding marketplace issues has never been more important for teens, who make up a growing share of consumer purchases in the U.S.,” Goddard said. “I’m highly impressed by the championship performance of our state’s team.”

The Flagstaff Home Educators team members include Reanna Toenjes, Emily Bearchell, Jake Robison and Michael Swift and Captain Zach Schierl. This is the 8th trip to the LifeSmarts national competition for both the Flagstaff Home Educators Team and Bearchell.

Arizona’s LifeSmarts program is coordinated by Tammy Miller of the Attorney General’s Office.

More information on the LifeSmarts program can be found at www.lifesmarts.org, and information on the National Consumer League is available at http://www.nclnet.org/.