Des Moines Teacher Wins International Award

Michael Marcketti, a mathematics teacher at Central Academy, has been selected as a winner of the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

Marcketti is one of 22 teachers selected from all of the high schools in the United States and Canada for this international recognition. He was nominated by Joel Schneider, Kerrick Staley and Luchang Wang, students at Central Academy. Nominations for the award were solicited from students who were among the 60 highest-scoring teams in the nation on the American Mathematics (American Mathematics Competitions) Contest 12 (AMC 12).

As a winner, Marcketti receives a cash award, a letter of recognition, a Sliffe Award Winner pin, a certificate from the MAA, a one-year institutional membership in the MAA and 20 subscriptions to Math Horizons for distribution to students

Marcketti has been a mathematics teacher for 17 years. He has been teaching at Central Academy for two years and before that, he taught at Roosevelt High School for five years. He is one of only two Iowa teachers to have received the Sliffe Award twice — he first received it while teaching in Iowa City in 1995.

“Walk into Mr. Marcketti’s Advanced Problem Solving class and you’ll see math taught as a high-energy, social sport,” said Barb Adams, K-12 Mathematics Curriculum Coordinator. “His dynamic teaching style and his commitment to his students’ success make him an inspiration to all educators.”

The MAA is a 28,000-member organization devoted to mathematics education at the college level. The Edyth May Sliffe Award program is designed to recognize and reward outstanding teachers for their efforts in the development of mathematical talents of high school students.