Students participate in March Smartness

(FOX Providence) - Brackets, buzzer-beaters, and many of Rhode Island’s best brains will be on display this Friday, March 11th at the Rhode Island State House as nine high school teams compete for the Consumer Cup. For the second year, CollegeBoundfund is the major sponsor of the state LifeSmarts competition also known as “March Smartness.”

Peter Kerwin from the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority, joined The Rhode Show to talk more about the competition.

We know about “March Madness” but what is “March Smartness”?

Just last weekend, the Rhode Island Jump$tart Coalition, the state organizer of this national program of the National Consumers League released the brackets for this program that rewards teenagers for their knowledge of consumer issues in five key categories; personal finance, environment, technology, health & safety and consumer rights and responsibilities.

Teams from Barrington, Burrillville, Coventry, East Greenwich, Lincoln, The Lincoln School, The Rhode Island National Guard Child and Youth Program, North Providence, and North Smithfield have all qualified for the seventh annual teen consumer competition. Teams of five students have been chosen by their coaches through a competitive online process that began a couple of months ago.

So, what’s at stake at “March Smartness?”

The Rhode Island state LifeSmarts champion will claim the coveted Consumer Cup and earn the right to represent Rhode Island at the national LifeSmarts competition to be held in Hollywood, CA in late April.

More importantly, the ultimate goal of the LifeSmarts program is to educate and reward young adults for being savvy consumers. Many times, teenagers hear from adults, “You’re going to be in the real world soon and will have to make important decisions.” However, right now teens represent billions (with a “b”) in consumer purchases each year. The decisions they make today have important ramifications, not only on their personal finance, but also in our country’s economy. The idea of this program is to encourage teenagers to establish good habits that will hopefully last a lifetime.

Do you have a favorite at this year’s competition?

North Providence has won the competition four times and Barrington has won twice and they have each fielded teams this year. In fact, just last year Barrington took North Providence into overtime to win. However, this year there are a couple of impressive newcomers as well as several teams who have made it to the final four. So I’m going to watch some film, read the scouting reports, and try to find my Cinderella team when I fill out my brackets. It’s going to be a great competition that will probably come down to the final seconds again.