Date posted: 07/24/2007*

On Friday, July 20, visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. were treated to several interactive presentations on the red planet at Mars Day!, a Raytheon-sponsored event.

Through the MathMovesU program, Raytheon brought three Washington, D.C.-area YMCA summer camps to the Museum, giving nearly 100 kids the opportunity to explore the space museum and the Mars Day! exhibit. The students took a virtual tour of the red planet by viewing an actual meteorite, Mars Odyssey images and a three-dimensional film of Mars’ surface.

"Studying Mars and the other planets is fun," said Xanzhia Strohm, 8, of Maryland. "I even made up a song about the planets for my science class. I want to teach math and science when I grow up."

"I’m so happy to be here looking at all the fun things at the museum," said 12-year-old Nicholas Grazio, the grand-prize winner of a national contest held on MathMovesU.com. Grazio and his family were treated to a VIP tour of the museum, hotel accommodations and air travel from their home in North Carolina to the nation’s capitol.

"We learn a lot from the planets," said Paul Blakey, 10, of Washington, D.C. "I want to be a paleontologist when I grow up. I know I’ll use math to determine the age of bones."

"When you connect math to the things kids are passionate about, they can become passionate about math," said Kristin Hilf, Raytheon’s vice president of Community Relations. "Going beyond the classroom helps kids to see the exciting possibilities of a math-based education and the relevancy of math to their lives both today and tomorrow."

MathMovesU, a Raytheon initiative, is working to reverse the national trend in declining math scores among middle school students by showcasing how math connects to "cool" people, careers and experiences. Studies have shown that students begin losing interest in math during their middle school years.

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