For the fifth consecutive year, the LifeSmarts team captured the state championship at their competition this past February.

Coached by Bruce Burwitz, the winning team consisted of seniors Madison Ballard, Kelsey Krause, Jacob Goodman, Katherine Hiller, and Zach Williams.

“LifeSmarts is a quiz bowl type competition with two teams competing at a time,” LifeSmarts team coach Bruce Burwitz said. “The teams answer questions on topics of finance, environment, technology, safety and consumer rights.”

The students who attended the state competition were chosen because of their high scores on the Life Smarts online test they took in one of Burwitz’s business classes.

“The test consisted of 140 questions of the same categories as the ones in the competition,” Burwitz said. “The highest scorers in the state qualified for the competition.”

The team defeated Cranbrook School with a score of 235 points, making them the highest scorers after eight rounds of competition. Four members of the team, along with Burwitz and CADD teacher Andy Cocagne, are at the national finals in Seattle, Washington, this week.

“Last year’s team placed 12th at nationals and we plan to do even better than that,” Williams said. “Jacob Goodman has gone to nationals three times, so having someone on the team with that experience is helpful. ”