Bobby Shen, Texas 8th - Grader and Texas Team Named National Mathematics Champions at 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS ® National Competition

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Bobby Shen - 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS (R) Champion

Every one of the participating Mathletes should be recognized for their outstanding achievements following months of dedication and hard work

Orlando, Florida (PRWEB) May 15, 2009

Bobby Shen of Sugar Land, Texas, was named the winner of the 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS® National Competition, today at Walt Disney World's Swan and Dolphin Resort. This year's winning Mathlete ® answered the following math problem in less than 45 seconds to be crowned the national champion of this year's competition:

Question: How many 2-by-2-by-2 cubes must be added to an 8-by-8-by-8 cube to make a 10-by-10-by-10 cube??

Answer: 61 (cubes)

The 8th-grader from First Colony Middle School competed against 227 other middle school students in this prestigious competition, hosted by Danica McKellar. McKellar is best known as Winnie Cooper on "The Wonder Years" and Elsie Snuffin on "The West Wing" and now as author of the New York Times best-selling books, "Kiss My Math" and "Math Doesn't Suck."

Shen was victorious in the intense, one-on-one Countdown Round where the top 12 Mathletes® competed for the title of this year's Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Champion. David Yang of Walnut, California was awarded the second-place individual title with Alan Zhou of Lexington, Massachusetts, and Max Schindler of St. Louis, Missouri, advancing to the Semi-finals. In the team competition, Texas captured the title of National Team Champions. Team members include Yury Aglyamov of Austin, Texas; Steven Chen of Austin, Texas; Bobby Shen of Sugar Land, Texas; Lilly Shen of Sugar Land, Texas and Coach Jeff Boyd of Sugar Land. The Missouri team took second place, and the Washington team placed third.

"Every one of the participating Mathletes should be recognized for their outstanding achievements following months of dedication and hard work," said William H. Swanson, Chairman and CEO of Raytheon Company and 2009 MATHCOUNTS honorary chairman. "We hope these students will build on their passion for math and be recognized for their outstanding efforts going forward. MATHCOUNTS and programs like Raytheon's MathMovesU are working to motivate the country's brightest students with the idea that with math, there are no limits."

"Congratulations to each of these students on their amazing accomplishments," said Lou DiGioia, executive director of the MATHCOUNTS Foundation. "These Mathletes, and all of their counterparts around the nation, deserve our praise and acknowledgement of their talent and dedication. They represent our future in an increasingly important math literate global economy. MATHCOUNTS is honored to support the efforts of U.S. middle school students in developing strong mathematical abilities and the critical thinking skills necessary to help the nation move forward with innovative solutions to our challenges in the coming years."

As National Champion, Bobby Shen won the $8,000 Donald G. Weinert Scholarship and a trip to the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. David Yang won a $6,000 scholarship as 2nd Place Individual. Semi-finalists Alan Zhou of Lexington, Massachusetts, and Maximilian Schindler of St. Louis, Missouri, each won a $4,000 scholarship. David Yang of Walnut, California, won an $8,000 scholarship as the Written Round Winner and Maximilian Schindler of St. Louis, Missouri, also won a $6,000 scholarship as Written Round Runner-up. Additionally, each team member from first-place Texas won a $2,000 scholarship and trips to U.S. Space Camp.

"It was my honor to witness this level of passion for mathematics from these middle school students," said McKellar. "Their desire to excel in such a challenging subject is admirable and I hope their accomplishments inspire other students and young people around the world."

Student representatives 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 schools worldwide participated in the 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition. To advance to the National Competition, students had to not only place in the top four of their peers during their state competition in March, they also had to advance through local and chapter level competitions.

ABOUT MATHCOUNTS

MATHCOUNTS is America's only nationwide enrichment, coaching, club, and competition program that motivates and rewards middle school students for math achievement.

Mission: To secure America's global competitiveness, MATHCOUNTS inspires excellence, confidence and curiosity in US middle school students through fun and challenging math programs.
Reach:

•     Celebrating its 26th anniversary, over 6 million students have developed critical thinking and problem-solving skills through participating in MATHCOUNTS.
•     Over 100,000 students in more than 6000 schools register annually to compete in the MATHCOUNTS Competition Program.
•     MATHCOUNTS currently distributes program information, curriculum, and materials to over 48,000 middle schools.
•     A 501(c)(3) organization, funding for MATHCOUNTS comes primarily from its National Sponsors; Raytheon Company, Northrop Grumman Foundation, National Society of Professional Engineers, 3M Foundation, General Motors Foundation, CNA Foundation, ConocoPhillips, Texas Instruments Incorporated, National Defense Education Program, and Lockheed Martin. MATHCOUNTS was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers, CNA Foundation and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

ABOUT RAYTHEON
Raytheon Company, with 2008 sales of $23.2 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 87 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 73,000 people worldwide.

Fast Facts:

•     Raytheon Company is the title sponsor of the MATHCOUNTS® 2009 Raytheon National Competition and has made a commitment to serve as title sponsor until 2011.
•     Raytheon's support of MATHCOUNTS is a component of its MathMovesU program, an initiative designed to engage U.S. middle school students in math and science through interactive learning programs, contests, events, scholarships, tutoring programs and more.
•     Since its inception in 2005, MathMovesU has touched the lives of more than 700,000 students, teachers and parents. For more information, please visit MathMovesU.com.

Additional information on MATHCOUNTS and the 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition is available at http://www.mathcounts.org.

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