Patriots Star Willie McGinest is Surprise Substitute Teacher at Boston School; Raytheon's MathMovesU Initiative Gets Kids Excited about Math; Mayor Menino declares March 7th ''Make Math Fun Day'' in Boston

Business Wire, March 7, 2006

BOSTON -- Students at the Maurice J. Tobin School received some extra math help on Tuesday when Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest visited as a Surprise Substitute Teacher as part of Raytheon Company's innovative MathMovesU program. Raytheon Chairman and CEO William H. Swanson and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino also attended the event. Menino presented a proclamation declaring March 7th "Make Math Fun Day" in Boston.

The event came about after Tobin School math teacher Mrs. Lynne Jones won the Surprise Substitute Teacher contest conducted on Raytheon's MathMovesU website (www.mathmovesu.com). In her competition entry, Jones lauded her students' math capabilities, but said they would greatly benefit from a Surprise Substitute visit.

During his appearance, McGinest discussed the importance of gaining a strong math education. He showed 6-8 grade students how math plays into his life and involved them in a football-related interactive math problem.

"You don't normally think of math when you're talking about football, but the truth is, math comes into play quite a bit," said McGinest. "Whether it's figuring out the best angle of pursuit for chasing down a running back or wide receiver, or coming up with the best game plan to beat your opponent, math is involved in the calculations."

"Raytheon started the MathMovesU program to get more students excited about math in middle school," said Swanson. "There are a lot of great jobs out there that involve math. But it's hard to catch up if you don't start working on math when you're young. So if you want to design video games or work for NASA or study deep sea creatures tomorrow, you really need to focus on math today."

Mayor Menino also emphasized the importance of math education. "Even though most kids don't realize it when they are in school, math is important in all types of jobs - whether you're a doctor, a scientist, a football player or a mayor," said Mayor Menino. "I want to thank Raytheon for launching the MathMovesU program to get kids excited about math. And of course, the students and teachers in schools throughout Boston deserve credit for the work they do every day to improve their math abilities."

Background on MathMovesU

A Raytheon study found that a combined 84% of American middle school students would rather do one of the following than sit down with their math homework: clean their rooms, eat their vegetables, take out the garbage or go to the dentist. Yet these same sixth to eighth graders say they want to do better in math (67%) and that doing well in math is important to them (94%).

To turn math's image around and excite sixth, seventh and eighth graders about math, Raytheon has enlisted a group of celebrities who aren't the usual math education types.

Skateboard legend Tony Hawk, soccer star Mia Hamm, basketball greats Bill Russell and Lisa Leslie, and BMX bike champ Dave Mirra are on board with MathMovesU not only to grab the students' attention, but also because they all have careers with a math connection. On mathmovesu.com, students can work on real-world applications of math, such as calculating the degrees of turn Tony Hawk needs to complete a signature trick, or the average points per game scored by Lisa Leslie.

MathMovesU also highlights other cool careers that rely on math, like a concert tour manager, fashion designer, video game creator, roller coaster innovator, and ER doctor.

While MathMovesU is most certainly a math education program, it's not based in the classroom but on the internet, where middle school students get their entertainment and information. At mathmovesu.com, middle school students can win awards by answering math questions related to the MathMovesU celebrities' careers.

Scholarships and Grants Available

Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) is also providing help inside the classroom. The company announced an annual $1 million MathMovesU grant program that will fund classroom help for teachers; provide grants to teachers, college students, and schools finding innovative ways to interest kids in math; and offer scholarships to students who write in on the Web to tell how they would make math more cool.