On Thursday, Oct. 11, President Bush in his speech to the people of the United States made a special request to the children of America. He asked American children and youth to join in a special effort to help the children in Afghanistan. “Many children there are severely malnourished,” said President Bush. “One in three Afghan children is an orphan, almost half suffer chronic malnutrition, and we can and must help them.” President Bush asked every child in America to earn or give a dollar to be used to provide food and medical help for the children of Afghanistan.

The Maine Mathematics Science and Engineering Talent Search Program (MMSETS) would like to respond to President Bush’s request by offering an opportunity to all Maine students of grades 5-12 to earn a contribution to the America’s Fund for Afghan Children. Thousands of Maine students of grades 5-12 are participating in MMSETS, an informal corresponding program providing challenging recreational math problems. Students in the program develop problem-solving skills, learn math principles as they appear in interrelated problems. MMSETS is free for all students. Interested students can join the program at any time.

This is how Maine businesses can help: MMSETS would like to ask all Maine corporations to join MMSETS to help the children of Afghanistan and in the same time to inspire Maine children and youth to submit solutions to our problems. MMSETS would like to ask volunteer Maine companies to donate $1 in the name of each problem solver to the next two rounds of our competition. Participating companies will get the satisfaction of helping Maine youth by inspiring intellectual achievement and helping the children of Afghanistan. Companies, interested in giving a donation in the name of problem solving students should contact me express their intent. Upon receiving the solutions on Oct. 30 for the second round and Dec. 4 for the third round, the director of MMSETS will tell the companies how many students submitted solutions and possibly their names. The company would send a dollar in the name of each problem solver to the America’s Fund for Afghan Children.

The benefit here is twofold: First, the children of Afghanistan would get money for whatever the America’s Fund for Afghan Children designates it. Second, our Maine youth get an opportunity to help build character, while they benefit from the perseverance and reflection needed in problem solving. In the long run they could stay with the program and discover the joy of mathematics. Please note that the students would not get the money and MMSETS does not earn any profit from this process. As far as we know, our initiative is the first amongst many that requires intellectual growth from American children and youth to join the Red Cross effort announced by President Bush.

So, here is a unique opportunity for all Maine companies to help Afghan children and help Maine youth. If you are interested, please contact mmsets@maine.edu or eva.szillery@maine.edu, or visit our website at www.mmsets.org. Sponsoring companies will be listed on our website.

Eva J. Szillery, PhD, is director of the Maine Mathematics, Science and Engineering Talent Search at the University of Maine System & Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance