Boston, MA – March 14, 2006 – It is a rare opportunity for middle-schoolers with an avid interest in mathematics to get excited and showcase their skills for an extraordinary prize. Wentworth Institute of Technology will host the 23rd annual MathCounts competition at Wentworth on Saturday, March 4, 2006.

Wentworth Institute of Technology, for the second straight year, will be awarding full four-year scholarships to Boston’s top four winners of the MathCounts Competition with the option of a fifth scholarship for the top female performer, if not one of the top four. This is reflective of Wentworth’s continued commitment to their goals of academic excellence, service to the greater community, and economic contributions to the city and state. The competition is designed to generate excitement in middle-schoolers who have a passion and knack for math and science. The scholarships are an incentive to sustain the enthusiasm about math and science within this age group, where fundamental learning takes place and students either stray or stay on the path to math and science.

Sponsored in part by the Massachusetts Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE), this year will mark the tenth time Wentworth has hosted the Massachusetts state finals. For the past decade, Wentworth and the MSPE have been sponsoring the event in hopes of stimulating math and engineering inquisitiveness in students at this crucial age. National sponsors include the General Motors Foundation, 3M, Xerox, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Foundation, Raytheon, NASA, Shell Oil, and Texas Instruments.

The different components of the competition will test students in the areas of probability, statistics, linear algebra and polynomials. MathCounts competitions are open to all students in the 6th, 7th, or 8th grade and are held in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories. Eligible participants are chosen from the more than 100,000 students from over six thousand schools and home-schoolers nationwide. The top scoring Mathletes® from each state will travel on to the national competition in Washington, DC in early May to compete for the overall championship and the opportunity to meet with President Bush.

Academic Excellence • Community Service • Economic Impact.