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Milton High squad going to consumer-literacy finals

Albert Enyedy, Chris Ricciuti, Maryam El-Sayed, Cormac Conners, and captain Jack Caljouw will represent Milton High at the LifeSmarts Champion-ship in Florida. The competition challenges teens about personal finance, health and safety, the environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities.

MILTON TEAM HEADS TO NATIONAL COMPETITION: The ability to handle personal finances is probably not something most adults equate with teenagers. But a team of five Milton High School students has enough of it to qualify for a national competition in consumer literacy.

“This is our third trip to the finals in as many years,” said team coach and math teacher Nancy Mikels. “We came in 13th and 8th the last two years, but this year, we’re planning to come in number one.”

Team members Cormac Connors, Maryam El-Sayed, Albert Enyedy, Chris Ricciuti , and captain Jack Caljouw will be in Orlando, Fla., next weekend for the finals of the Life-Smarts Championship and compete against state winners from around the country.

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The Milton squad qualified for the finals by winning the state competition in March at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, beating out eight other high-school teams.

What students learn through the program is valuable, said the 17-year-old Caljouw, a senior.

“It’s useful in everyday life, like being smart about credit,” said Caljouw, who will attend Northwestern University this fall to major in political science or economics. “It prepares you to be a responsible consumer when you’re an adult.”

Caljouw has been to the last two finals and last year took first place in the competition’s environmental test category.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Mikels said. “These are bright kids, picked from our college quiz bowl team.”

LifeSmarts is a consumer education competition that challenges teens in grades 9 through 12 about personal finance, health and safety, the environment, technology and consumer rights and responsibilities. It is a program of the National Consumers League in Washington, D.C., and is now in its 20th year.

The state had picked up team travel costs in the past, she said, but not this year. That’s when Milton School Superintendent Mary C. Gormley stepped up to the plate.

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“She said if we won the state, she’d find the money,” Mikels said. “As soon as we won, she started, she was sending out e-mails at 2 in the morning, and didn’t stop until she got all of it.”

Through donations from individuals and businesses, Gormley raised the $10,000 needed to pay the team’s airfare, hotel stay, and meals, Mikels said.

Prizes include scholarship money for students and education grants for their schools, as well as iPad minis.

“What’s most exciting is working with the team. They’re all so quick and competitive, it’s fun,” said senior El-Sayed, 17, who will attend the Rochester Institute of Technology to major in statistics. “And we’re going to Disney World, too, which is great. I’ve never been there before.”

Hanging out with other teams from around the country is a plus as well, Caljouw said.

“It’s interesting to meet kids from across the nation,” he said. “Even though the trip is competition focused, there’s a lot of down time.”

He shares his coach’s winning vision, saying, “We’ve got a fairly good shot. Massachusetts has always done pretty well in the nationals. One school a few years ago finished fourth, so we’re shooting for number one. We hope to be the first team to win from Massachusetts.”

For those interested in tracking the team’s progress, the last day of competition will be streamed live at www.lifesmarts.org.

BUSINESS BRIEFS: Karman Lee, operations manager at Manet Community Health Center in Quincy, received the 2014 Emerging Leader Award from the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Washington, D.C. Lee, a Quincy resident, received the award at a ceremony in Washington last month.

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Leslie Cox was named farm director of Sharon-based The Trustees of Reservations, and oversees growth and management of the conservation nonprofit’s farm operations across the state, including the Bradley Estate in Canton and Weir River Farm in Hingham. He is also the president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, and is a winner of the US Department of Agriculture’s Merit Award.

Scott Clifford, partner at the Hanover-based law firm Epstein, Lipsey & Clifford P.C., was a guest in early April on “Radio Entrepreneurs,” which aired on several radio stations. He talked about the focus of his practice as well as the firm’s commitment to the Ellie Fund, which provides relief to breast cancer patients and their families.


Paul E. Kandarian can be reached at pkandarian@aol.com