The MATHCOUNTS® National Competition held May 10-12 in Fort Worth, TX was a special one this year for Raytheon: we were cheering on one of our own. More than 20 employee volunteers gave a warm Texas welcome to teams at the airport, scored competitions and helped make the event a huge success. However, Mike Thomas, an engineer at Intelligence and Information Systems in Aurora, Colorado, was there for another reason – to watch his son, David, compete.

Raytheon is a proud sponsor of MATHCOUNTS, a national mathematics enrichment program engaging and encouraging more than 500,000 middle school students to sharpen their math skills. More than 6,300 schools from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Department of Defense and State Department School worldwide registered students to participate in the MATHCOUNTS competition series and vie for prizes, scholarships, bragging rights and the opportunity to advance to the MATHCOUNTS National Competition.

Mathlete David Thomas had to advance through the school, local and state MATHCOUNTS competition series in Colorado before securing a spot at the National Competition.  Listen in on as father, Mike Thomas, also a MATHCOUNTS coach, and son David, talk about the value of MATHCOUNTS and Raytheon’s signature program MathMovesU.

1. Why is MATHCOUNTS such an important program?
   
   Mathlete David: MATHCOUNTS teaches students like me some important math and problem-solving skills.
   
   Dad & Coach Mike: Coaching MATHCOUNTS gives me an opportunity to invest time and energy into teaching and encouraging many young people with bright, promising futures -- a payback of sorts to the many teachers and adult volunteers who inspired and motivated me when I was young.
   
2. What was it like to compete at the national level?
   
   Mathlete David: It was exciting to make it to the top level of the MATHCOUNTS competition. It gave me a great feeling of accomplishment to make it so far.
   
3. How did you do?
   
   Mathlete David: I finished 61st out of 228 individuals, which was the highest finishing position on the Colorado team. Colorado finished 20th out of 57 teams (versus 40th place in 2006).
   
4. Tell us a little bit about the experience of going to the national meet.
   
   Mathlete David: It was fun to be with so many kids who like math. Also, it was fun to trade pins with them and see all the places they came from.
   
5. From a parent’s perspective, why is MathMovesU a good program?
   
   Dad & Coach Mike: Middle school is often the critical turning point in many young lives. A little encouragement to these kids to apply themselves in a challenging subject -- mathematics -- can mean the difference between a confident, successful student and an unmotivated, disinterested one.
   
6. From an employee’s perspective, why is MathMovesU a good program?
   
   Dad & Coach Mike: In this increasingly high-tech, globally connected world, the United States cannot afford to lose its competitive edge in scientific, engineering and technological innovation. If Raytheon is going to continue playing a vital role in this national objective, we must continue to encourage and promote excellence in math and science in our schools.
   
7. How do MathMovesU and MATHCOUNTS help in the effort to get kids interested in math and science?
   
   Mathlete David: MATHCOUNTS helps kids experience math in a fun way, which helps them consider making math part of their future.

Mathlete Kevin Chen from Sugarland, Texas won this year’s competition. Chen was victorious in the intense, one-on-one oral Countdown Round, in which the top 12 Mathletes competed for the title of MATHCOUNTS National Champion.

Chen and his Texas team also captured the National Team Champion title. The other team members were Jeff Feng from Houston, Kevin Li from College Station, and Bobby Shen, also from Sugarland.

“Raytheon made this year's event a success,” said Heather Gaskins, Director of Development for MATHCOUNTS foundation. 

Raytheon is pleased to continue its successful partnership with MATHCOUNTS and will be the National Competition Sponsor 2009-2011. 

To read more about the National Competition and see photos, visit www.mathcounts.org.

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