All children start out wanting to know the "what, how, and why" about their world. By nurturing and challenging their early curiosity, we will broaden and diversify our future workforce of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.

To celebrate ESTME Week, the Department of Education & the NSF have joined representatives from public and private organizations to create activities and events to help parents, teachers, and professionals excite K-12 students about science and mathematics.

The activities during ESTME Week reach beyond the "pencil and paper" aspects of education to the hands-on realm of experimentation and investigation. The week brings students face to face with the opportunity to discover and explore their world through math and science learning. More than ever before, we must help students appreciate the role of math and science education in realizing our future hopes of curing disease, fighting hunger, exploring space, and building a better world.

We thank you for participating in Excellence in Science, Technology, and Mathematics Education (ESTME) Week March 14-20, 2004. It was a rousing success! Next year's ESTME events are already in the works, so plan to join us April 11-16, 2005. For more information visit www.estme.org.