Last Updated: 05/10/2012*

Raytheon Company will host the nation's top 224 middle school math minds as the title sponsor of the 2012 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS^® National Competition May 10-13 at the Walt Disney World^® Swan and Dolphin Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The MATHCOUNTS finalists are vying for the titles of 2012 National Champion and National Championship Team.

Finalists competing at this year's national competition have advanced beyond approximately 100,000 middle school students from more than 6,000 schools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and schools from the Department of Defense and State Department, and have won their school, local and state competitions.

The 2012 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition is partnering for the second year with ESPN to distribute live coverage of the event. The Countdown Round takes place Friday, May 11, at 2 p.m. EDT. It will be carried live exclusively on ESPN3.com, which is the same network that carries the early rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Raytheon is also featuring an interactive Facebook challenge based on real MATHCOUNTS competition questions. Users will be able to answer questions, advance to higher playing levels and challenge their friends to see if they can achieve Mathlete status. Raytheon invites both adults and middle school students to complete the quiz on the MathMovesU Facebook page and obtain a Mathlete badge.

"The Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition is the ultimate stage for our nation's rising young math stars to demonstrate their talents and achieve more in mathematics," said Lou DiGioia, executive director of MATHCOUNTS. "Our partnership with Raytheon enables us to continue to inspire excellence, curiosity and confidence in mathematics in U.S. middle school students and to help provide today's students with the foundation for successful careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics."