ORLANDO, Fla., May 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Luke Robitaille, a home-schooled 13-year-old 7^th grader from Euless, Texas is the 2017 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS® National Champion, following an intense, elite competition at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Luke Robitaille won the final round of the 2017 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition by answering the question: "In a barn, 100 chicks sit peacefully in a circle. Suddenly, each chick randomly pecks the chick immediately to its left or right. What is the expected number of un-pecked chicks?" He gave the correct answer, 25, in 0.9 seconds. As National Champion, Luke Robitaille is the recipient of the $20,000 Donald G. Weinert College Scholarship and a trip to U.S. Space Camp.

Luke Robitaille entered the competition finals as the first-ranked competitor in the Countdown Round, during which the 12 Mathletes® with the highest written test scores competed in head-to-head matchups for the title of 2017 National Champion. Seventh grader Andrew Cai, 13, of Sugar Land, Texas, was the Countdown Round Runner-Up. The semifinalists were: Jack Albright, a 7^th grader from Los Altos, Calif., and William Wang, an 8^th grader from Princeton, N.J.

In the team competition, Texas captured the title of First Place Team. Team members include Andrew Cai, 7^th grade; Luke Robitaille, 7^th grade; Justin Xiao, 8^th grade; Jeremy Zhou, 8^th grade. The New Jersey state team took second place, and the California team placed third.

This is the ninth year that Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has served as title sponsor of the MATHCOUNTS National Competition as part of its global commitment to science, technology, engineering and math education.

"These Mathlete competitors demonstrated a mastery and enthusiasm for the subject that is both impressive and inspiring," said Thomas A. Kennedy, Raytheon Chairman and CEO. "Their passion is infectious, and it gets you excited to think about the great breakthroughs they will someday achieve as the next generation of STEM innovators and professionals."

Luke Robitaille was among 224 competitors from all 50 states, plus U.S. territories and schools that serve the U.S. State and Defense departments who traveled to Orlando after earning a spot in the national competition. More than 100,000 students participated in the local and state competitions that led to this weekend's event. This year's competition was the 34th in the MATHCOUNTS Foundation's history.

"Every year these outstanding students show us how far hard work, perseverance and passion can take you," said Lou DiGioia, executive director of MATHCOUNTS. "I congratulate Luke and can't wait to see what he and the 223 other national competitors go on to accomplish in the future."

About MATHCOUNTS Foundation
MATHCOUNTS is a nonprofit organization that strives to engage middle school students of all ability and interest levels in fun, challenging math programs, in order to expand their academic and professional opportunities. Middle school students exist at a critical juncture in which their love for mathematics must be nurtured, or their fear of mathematics must be overcome. For more than 30 years, MATHCOUNTS has provided free, high-quality resources to educators and enriching, extracurricular opportunities to students to lay a foundation for future success. Materials and information are available at www.mathcounts.org. Follow us on Twitter.

About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2016 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 95 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I^TM products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter.

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Raytheon Company
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SOURCE Raytheon