Lifesmarts Coordinator Conference Call Minutes

Lifesmarts Coordinator Conference Call Minutes

LifeSmarts Coordinator Conference Call Minutes

February 3, 2016

Staff Present: Lisa Hertzberg, Seth Woods

Coordinators Present: Sharon Pierce (TX), Cheryl Varnadoe (GA), Mary Hillmann (MN), Gillian Andrews (DE), Mary Dyer (ME), Jim Hedemark (RI), Crystal Kraft (ND), Gwen Worlds (FL), Alex Rodriguez (CA), Tom Connor (CT), Donna Backwinkel (CO)

Agenda

  1. Roll Call
  1. Staffing update:
  2. Rashaud announced his departure the day after our last call. He was great with the students, and we will miss him. We wish him all the best.
  3. Paperwork: The forms have been updated so that forms should be sent to . Seth and I both monitor this email inbox. Our colleague Sebastian Ramirez will be handling state release forms.
  4. Certificates: Rashaud said he had sent out the requests he had received, but if you still need help with certificates contact Lisa.
  5. If there is something else that Rashaud would ordinarily have done for you, Seth and I are here to assist
  1. Participation Update
  2. For program year to date:
  3. 42,000 users
  4. 60% returning, 40% new users
  5. 102,000 sessions
  6. 600,000 page views
  7. For January 2016:
  8. 10,700 users
  9. 21,000 sessions
  10. 141,000 page views (6.74/session)
  11. 9:38 average session duration:
  12. January TeamSmarts: Environment (last topic quiz for the year)
  13. 144 teams took the quiz
  14. Varsity - Altitude, AZ, Coach: Julia Gindorf
  15. FBLA - Landstown FBLA, VA Coach: Heather Daniel
  16. FCCLA – Black River Falls, WI, Coach: Sarah Halverson
  17. FCCLA January Quiz
  18. 24 teams competed for the top spot
  19. Winner advancing to Nationals: Meadville HS, Meadville MO
  20. 2nd chance opportunity for FCCLA competitive event – 4 winning teams advance to their NLC, and 8 others are on stand-by as alternates
  21. FBLA January Quiz
  22. 38 teams competed for the top spot
  23. Winners advancing to Nationals: West Carteret HS, Morehead City, NC
  1. State Competitions
  2. Competition materials posted since our last call: (Seth)
  3. Question rounds
  4. Assessments
  5. Speed Dating
  6. Scoresheets
  7. Online competitions
  8. Form updates
  9. State TeamSmarts is available – FL and KS teams are taking this now
  10. Update your state page on the LifeSmarts web site to provide recognition to your state sponsors.
  11. Please list all your sponsors on your page, so we can recognize them at nationals, including them in the packets
  12. Our February e-blast listed resources, please feel free to share this (or your own list) with coaches. It included:
  13. NEW this month – all 2015-16 monthly TeamSmarts quizzes have been reopened for practice quizzes. ALL students now have five 100-question topic quizzes in their practice area
  14. Great way to get players working together on studies
  15. Content vocabulary and Weekly Quizzes
  16. Roughly 30% of questions for live competition come directly from this list of vocab!
  17. Calendars, retired practice questions, LifeSmarts U, and more
  18. Leak of the Week coming back soon
  19. UL is the national sponsor of the LifeSmarts Safety Smart Ambassador project and they were interested in sending volunteers to state competitions this year. I provided them with a list of state dates and locations, and where they have nearby affiliates, they are reaching out to find volunteers for us. You may be hearing from me if there is someone in your area who is interested in volunteering – thank you in advance!
  20. Other questions:
  21. Mary (MN): checklist includes an evaluation, do you have one?
  22. Lisa: we have a template we can post in Coord Resources
  23. Mary (ME): we can share ours from Maine
  24. Crystal (ND): we shared a Survey Monkey survey
  25. Sharon: are we getting t-shirts?
  26. Lisa: McNeil (our former sponsor) has decided to change funding mission, we’re still looking for a funder
  27. Mary (MN): can you send an updated scoresheet?
  28. Seth: I will do that now
  1. Nationals
  2. State champion coach memo on Web site, and we went over highlights on our January call – any questions?
  3. Coordinators
  4. Travel stipends are not available to coordinators this year – we have been pleased to be able to offer these the past few years and we will do our best to secure funding for this again in the future
  5. Meeting Saturday night
  6. Help us run competitions throughout national event
  7. Invitations going out early next week
  8. Volunteer registration form is open:
  9. Volunteers – if you know of others who can help volunteer, please send Lisa their contact information.
  10. Hotel deadline is March 18
  11. Click here to register:
  12. Block under the National Consumers League
  13. Room rates:
  14. Single, double = $169
  15. Triple = $184
  16. Quad = $199
  17. Plus applicable state and local taxes, currently 14.75%
  18. Ground transportation ideas are provided in the state champion coach memo
  19. Focus on Alumni: What questions would you like recent LifeSmarts alumni to answer during their panel?
  20. Crystal (ND): can we record that as a marketing tool?
  21. Seth: we’ll send out an invitation to alumni, be sure to share with those you stay in touch with
  22. Seeking advice about the fun activity – what would you see as most interesting to teams? On Monday afternoon/evening
  23. Getting out of Denver, and visiting a mining town or park?
  24. Time to wander in the city?
  25. A visit to the US Mint followed by time on their own?
  26. Mary (ME): a trip to the Mint aligns well with LifeSmarts, personal finance, etc. but kids might enjoy the mall more
  27. Gwen: Mint would be a great activity
  28. Mary (MN): her teens had fun seeing money printed (at the Federal Reserve?)
  29. Donna (SC): Boulder is a fun place to go
  1. Other activities
  2. FBLA competitive event
  3. Spring challenge opened Monday, open until Feb. 26
  4. This is an opportunity for FBLA chapters to compete in LifeSmarts at their National Leadership Conference in Atlanta in June
  5. Safety Smart Ambassadors – scholarships awarded at Nationals
  6. Please remind your coaches and students about this opportunity
  7. Teams may also earn travel stipends by using the Safety Smart program
  8. Urban outreach
  9. We have received new funding from Experian this year to help with outreach targeting urban populations. We can provide limited funding to coordinators who wish to explore ideas locally. Please contact Lisa for more information.
  10. Year-end evaluation is on the website; and also in the e-blast:
  11. We’d like to get as many responses as possible, so please pass this along to your coaches and students (we collect responses from both)
  1. Next call: Wednesday, March 2, 2016 at 3pm EST
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