Laveen Leadership Academy at Cheatham Farms
Laveen Village, Arizona
An Arizona native, Mr. Dees graduated from Yuma High School in 1990. He joined the army at 17, and over the course of a 21-year military career served in Germany, Saudi Arabia, Korea, and Iraq as a combat medic, flight medic, and physical therapy assistant. He retired in 2011 and returned to Phoenix. His mother was the one who talked him into teaching; she said that teaching kids is like training soldiers!
Originally teaching 4th grade and then middle school math, Mr. Dees did not pick Social Studies, it picked him. He started with world history, then moved on to US History, and finally discovered civics. In 2018, he started running his school’s annual 8th-grade trip to Washington, DC, which just whet his appetite for civics programs! In 2022, his class participated in the Kids Voting AZ statewide election. In the summer of 2023, he was accepted to attend the We the People Summer Institute and began teaching the program in the 2023-’24 school year. He brought his students to the 2023 We the People Region 6 Showcase and the 2024 State Showcase, and the students loved the learning experience. His groups have since attended the regional and state showcases in both 2024 and 2025.
Mr. Dees has also gotten involved with the iCivics Arizona program, having students participate in the Regional E-Tournament in 2023, 2024, and 2025, with one of his teams qualifying for the State E-Tournament in the 2025-’26 school year.
The Foundation is proud to recognize Michael Dees for his outstanding work!