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Missouri LifeSmarts

LifeSmarts teaches high school and junior high school students about:

  • personal finance,
  • consumer rights and responsibilities,
  • technology,
  • health and safety, and
  • the environment.

LifeSmarts develops the consumer and marketplace skills of teenagers in a fun way and rewards them for the knowledge they demonstrate. The program complements any curriculum in high schools and junior high schools and can be used as an activity for classes, groups, clubs, and community organizations.

LifeSmarts is a teacher resource, a student resource and a place for competition!

There are a variety of activities available with LifeSmarts:

  • TeamSmarts is a monthly online team competition from September to January. Each month questions are from one of the five topic areas.  The three divisions of competition are LifeSmarts, FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) and FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America).
  • Safety Smarts is a Community Service Project that features LifeSmarts students teaching grade school students about safety. Partners for this project include the Underwriters Laboratory and Disney. Students can receive scholarships and prizes for participating.
  • State Competitions are conducted at the Junior Varsity (grades 6-8) and the Varsity (grades 9-12) levels. Teams of 4-5 compete online to win a spot at the in-person state competition. The top varsity state winner represents Missouri at the National LifeSmarts competition.

The National Competition features teams from states across the country and has one team representing FBLA and one representing FCCLA as a result of online competitions. Top teams receive scholarships and other prizes.

National LifeSmarts is sponsored by the National Consumers League (NCL), based in Washington D.C. Founded in 1899, it is a national nonprofit organization that identifies, protects, represents and advances the economic and social interests of consumers and workers through education, research and advocacy. The Missouri Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is the coordinator of the program.

Visual Guide to LifeSmarts in Missouri

For more information, contact: Donna Taylor, State LifeSmarts Coordinator, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, at molifesmarts@dese.mo.gov or (573) 522-6543.

2018-19 Schedule of Events

Online competition dates: September 10, 2018 through November 2, 2018.

State Competition paperwork due: November 9, 2018

State competitions will be held in Jefferson City for Junior Varsity teams on November 27th, 2018 and for Varsity teams on November 28th, 2018 in Jefferson City.

The Varsity state winner will be invited to compete at the LifeSmarts National Competition to be held April 13-16, 2019. The competition is free.

LifeSmarts is an integrated educational program that can be used in math, science, language arts, social studies, career education or any curriculum to expand the general knowledge of students. It is open to students in grades 6-12. The LifeSmarts program includes teacher resources, student competitions and community service. www.LifeSmarts.org

If you have never given LifeSmarts a try, this could be the year for you to try the resources, lesson plans, competitions, and community service projects!  www.lifesmarts.org

You will find some exciting new features and functionality on the site, including:

  • Streamlined navigation on the home page. If you want to browse the site, our new drop-down menus will help you explore. If you know where you’re headed, you should be just a click away.
  • Your registration from previous years is still active; there is no need to re-register. This is true whether you are a coach or a student.
  • Coaches, you will have the capability to add or drop students on your teams.
  • From September through January you will find new resources to help you focus on the topic of the month.
  • The ability to take practice quizzes by topic and by difficulty. Want to review just personal finance questions? Now you can!

Sponsors: 

Missouri Association Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) 
Missouri Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)