Ardie Allen, a High School North teacher of mathematics, is a winner of the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching. Honored by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), he received a cash award, a letter of recognition, a Sliffe Award Winner pin, a certificate from the MAA, a one-year membership in the MAA, and 20 subscriptions to Math Horizons for distribution to students.
He was nominated by students Andrew Delman, Victor Chu, and Walter Mostowy. They wrote:
“Since he first became an advisor for our high school Math Team two years ago, Mr. Arvid Allen has been a steadfast supporter of every endeavor we have undertaken as a team. At that time the Math Team, along with many other extracurricular clubs at our school, was threatened by a budget crisis. We were not at all sure if our school would still pay for our award-winning team to have an advisor — and the ability of the Math Team to continue to participate in the competitions in which we had won statewide and nationwide recognition seemed in doubt. Then Mr. Allen stepped in. Ever since that time Mr. Allen has faithfully served our team, not only managing to fulfill the many duties of a Math Team advisor, but carry them out with patience, enthusiasm, and above all an infectious love of the subject he teaches.
“After long days of teaching in the classroom, he proctors the math competitions at our school, and travels with us on Tuesdays to math competitions in our area — making sure that everything runs smoothly. He makes sure that we are aware of Math Team events, patiently tracking us each down if necessary — but if one of us has a conflict, he is always willing to take time out of his schedule so that we can take the test.
“In the past two years our Math Team has been able to carry on its proud tradition of excellence in state and national competitions, in large part because of Mr. Allen’s dedication and remarkable ability to hold the team together among the sometimes daunting number of extracurricular activities our members participate in. He has shown that he is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that we can continue to bring pride to our school and our community.”
