ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL RYAN NAMES NORTH EAST HIGH SCHOOL 2011 "LIFESMARTS" STATE CHAMPIONS: TEAM ADVANCES TO NATIONALS IN HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA.

HARRISBURG, PA -- The following information was released by the office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General:

Acting Attorney General Bill Ryan named North East High School, Erie County, the 2011 "LifeSmarts Consumer Challenge" state champions following yesterday's competition held in Harrisburg. The victory means North East will represent Pennsylvania in the National LifeSmarts competition to be held April 30-May 3 in Hollywood, California.

LifeSmarts is a consumer challenge competition for high school students across the nation. Nine Pennsylvania high schools competed for the state title. The runner-up in the state competition was Dallas High School, Luzerne County.

The National Consumer League in partnership with nonprofit organizations, government agencies and educational organizations make the competition available to teens in every state. The Attorney General's Office plans and implements the program for Pennsylvania.

The nine Pennsylvania schools that qualified to compete in the state championship round are located in Allegheny, Bucks, Cumberland, Delaware, Erie, Jefferson, Lancaster and Luzerne counties.

Ryan said the nine top scoring teams were invited to the state finals and were chosen based on their scores on three separate tests that were posted online.

The Internet-based competition asked students a host of questions related to such topics as personal finances, the environment, technology, consumer rights and responsibilities and health and safety.

Each student earned points for the questions answered correctly. Their team score was determined by the average of the top four student scores from each school. Only nine teams were invited to compete for the state title.

The coaches of the winning teams used a variety of methods to practice for the finals. Many say to hone their skills as a team they conducted live mock demonstrations of the finals, which is similar to the game show Jeopardy.

Ryan congratulated the following schools for competing in the state finals:

Allegheny County

Carlynton Junior-Senior High School

435 King's Highway, Carnegie

Bucks County

Neshaminy High School

2001 Old Lincoln Highway, Langhorne

Bucks County

William Tennent High School

333 Centennial Road, Warminster

Cumberland County

Cumberland Valley High School

5746 Carlisle Pike, Mechanicsburg

Radnor Senior High School

130 King of Prussia Road, Radnor

Erie County

North East High School

1901 Freeport Road, North East

Jefferson County

Brockway Area High School

100 Alexander Street, Brockway

Lancaster County

Elizabethtown High School

620 North Mulberry Street, Elizabethtown

Luzerne County

Dallas High School

2000 Conyngham Avenue, Dallas

North East will represent Pennsylvania at the National LifeSmarts Competition, April 30-May 3 in Hollywood, California.

Immediately following the competition, the team from North East was presented with the winning trophy. Each team member also received a $100 savings bond and an individual Achievement Certificate. The runner's up each received a $50 savings bond, individual Achievement Certificates and a trophy.

Ryan identified the new state champs as: team captain Annette Haibach, Taylor Burnham, April Meehl, Katherine Perkins, Douglas Drab and team coach Greg Henning.

For additional information on the LifeSmarts Program visit www.lifesmarts.org. To learn how to enter the 2012 competition, contact the Attorney General's Office at 717-787-9716 or visit www.attorneygeneral.gov.