NEWARK- Perth Amboy High School beat out two schools to win first place in the New Jersey High School Consumer Bowl Middlesex County competition, New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs Director Kimberly Ricketts announced today.

The Middlesex County competition, held yesterday in New Brunswick, was conducted as part of the tenth annual New Jersey High School Consumer Bowl, a statewide quiz show-style competition created in 1997 to teach young adults about consumer issues. The competition matches teams of high school students against each other, first in county events, then in regional competitions and ultimately in the state finals held in Trenton. The finals will be held in May.

"Teenagers are a major force in the marketplace, spending billions of dollars each year," Director Ricketts said. "We want to ensure that as these students make their purchases, they know how to protect themselves and avoid becoming the victims of fraud. This competition is designed to arm them with the information they need to do just that."

Perth Amboy High School won the county competition with a score of 105. The other schools that participated in the county competition included John P. Stevens High School and New Brunswick High School.

The next round of competition is scheduled to take place in Mercer County on Tuesday, January 31, 2006.

To date, 77 schools from 18 counties are slated to participate in the program this year.

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