Teacher spotlight: Matthew DeMarinis, of Jericho High School

This month Newsday will begin highlighting the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island in a new Teacher Spotlight feature. Nominate those who create curriculums that advance learning, leave lasting impacts on students for years to come or have received state or national recognition by sending details to LILife@Newsday.com.

The first time Jericho High School math teacher Matthew DeMarinis stepped foot into a classroom as a teacher, he was barely older than his students are now.

DeMarinis, 53, of South Huntington, was an undergraduate teacher’s assistant at Stony Brook University when a visiting professor went back to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, leaving him to teach the course.

“I took over his class,” DeMarinis said. “I was 19 years old, teaching in an amphitheater classroom with a little microphone.”

More than 30 years later, he said he is better at the job now because he is better at understanding kids as people.

DeMarinis, often known to students as “Dr. D,” went on at Stony Brook to earn a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1994 and a master’s degree in mathematics education in 1998. In 2011, he earned a doctorate in mathematics education from Teachers College at Columbia University, and he has spent more than half of his life educating thousands of students. He taught at Farmingdale Middle School/High School from 1995 until 1997 before joining Jericho in 1997.

Colleague Paul Bode, a Jericho High School math teacher since 1991, called DeMarinis not only an excellent teacher, but a great mathematician.

“He’s not interested in kids just memorizing,” Bode said. “He wants to make sure the kids understand it and appreciate and love mathematics.”

The accolades DeMarinis has received underscore that point. He was named Nassau County Math Teacher of the Year in 2015, a New York State Master Teacher in 2017, a Harvard Distinguished Educator in 2015 and 2023 and a Coca-Cola Distinguished Educator in 2003.

Harvard junior Wesley Wang, 20, nominated DeMarinis for the Harvard award in 2023.

“He made me have fun in school, enjoy the experience of learning more,” Wang said. “I used to think of math as a way to get good grades. He made me realize it was related to anything I wanted to do. The way he solved problems was applicable to life.”

Students today, DeMarinis said, often arrive better equipped and with more resources than in the past.

“They have so much access to content on YouTube,” he said. “Kids come to me knowing things that years ago, there was no way they could know.”

DeMarinis credits his wife, Lauren, a third grade teacher at George A. Jackson Elementary School in Jericho, for motivating him. He said he loves spending time with family and working on cars.

“Kids remember how you make them feel,” he said. “They come back and tell you that. I didn’t know how addictive that would be, how much I love it.”