An hour a day during the week, and six on weekends. That’s how 13-year-old Divya Garg of Annandale, Va., worked towards an award in the Lockheed Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition held in May this year. Garg and her teammates cracked challenging questions to walk away with the title of National Team Champions. Contest participants came from all 50 U.S. 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.
Math has always come easy to Garg. “I have always enjoyed doing challenging problems,” she says. Not surprisingly, Garg says the four days spent at the competition were a lot of fun. Each team member from Garg’s team won a $2,000 scholarship, a trip to U.S. Space Camp and a notebook computer.
“The best part, though, was meeting with President Bush,” she says. “It felt great. It was my birthday, too, and I could not have asked for a better birthday gift than meeting the president himself.”
Vandana Kumar is a publishing executive with a 36-year track record in the industry. She leads the India Currents Foundation as President and CEO. As a new immigrant, she co-founded India Currents magazine...
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