Meet the Team at Mathnasium of Alameda

Christopher Wood

Chris is the Owner at Mathnasium of Alameda. Prior to opening his Mathnasium center, Chris was the Assistant Controller, Director for IACP Publishing (Ask.com, Dictionary.com, About.com) in Oakland. With a Bachelors of Science in Finance from San Diego State University, he has worked for more than 14 years as an accountant for various private and public companies including four years as an auditor with KPMG in San Francisco. During this time, he has done extensive coaching, teaching, and problem solving. Realizing the need for more individualized attention and targeted learning in math, Chris decided to bring Mathnasium to the Alameda area. He is committed to bringing the Mathnasium Method to the children in the community. Married and father of two boys, Chris also enjoys swimming and plays water polo for a team in the East Bay.

Jocelyn Aguayo

Jocelyn has a degree in Childhood and Adolescent Development with a focus in teaching from San Jose State University. She has over 10 years of experience working with youth in a variety of programs throughout the Bay Area. Since grade school, she has always enjoyed math, so her original goal was to become a high school math teacher. It was not until she graduated from San Jose State, that she leaned more towards the idea of teaching at college level. She is currently working towards obtaining a masters in mathematics. In her free time, she enjoys reading books from her favorite author, Stephen King, and coming up with new crafts.

Griffin Cisek

Griffin is a student currently studying Child and Adolescent Development at San Jose State University. Griffin has worked with kids of all ages and has helped teach everything from math and science to the creative arts. Griffin was inspired by the educators they grew up learning from and hopes to be a similar figure to future generations. In their free time, Griffin enjoys writing, traveling, and playing games with friends.

Alexander Webb

Alexander has a degree in Cognitive Science and a minor in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. From his classes there, he developed an interest in working in education and assisting students which he is pursuing here at Mathnasium. While in school, he has acted as a teacher's assistant on multiple occasions, and has always enjoyed the challenge of mathematics. In his free time, he enjoys watching television, jogging, and playing card games.

Vasavi Vempati

Vasavi has a degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Davis. From her classes and experience working in the tech industry, she gained a love for teaching and a deep appreciation for the foundational principles of mathematics. She is working on pursuing her master's degree in data analytics as well as volunteering with educational teaching pursuits. In her free time, she enjoys reading, creating pottery, sketching anime, and weightlifting.

Raymond Zhu

Raymond has a degree in Neurobiology and Physiology from the University of California, Davis. He graduated with the intent of pursuing a career in physical therapy. He has a background in tutoring students and learned that he enjoys teaching children math. Some of his hobbies include drawing, video games, and going to the gym.

Jessica Odonchimeg

Jessica is a junior at Alameda Science and Technology Institute and she’s currently working toward her Natural Science Associate’s Degree. She was a student for 3 years at Mathnasium before she became an instructor. Since elementary school, she’s enjoyed learning about math and now enjoys teaching students what she’s learned. Aside from school, she enjoys playing volleyball, reading, and coding. In the future, she hopes to major in Chemical Engineering.

Gavin Bayley

Gavin is a senior at Alameda High School. He is currently in AP statistics and was a former Mathnasium student for about four years. Aside from math, his favorite subjects in school are history and Spanish. He hopes to potentially become a food scientist after college.

Bryan Lam

Bryan Lam is a senior at Alameda High School. His passion for Math started from "being good at it" in Elementary school, and as time passed, he found an interest in the subject's real-world applications. With tutoring students, Bryan hopes to improve his teaching skills, and to meet local students from the community. Outside of math, his interests include music, photography, and trying new things!

Cameron Hoang

Cameron is a senior at the Alameda Community Learning Center. He has taken mathematic classes at the College of Alameda and Laney College, and is completing Calculus III. Mathematics has always been a strong subject for Cameron, and he has realized that teaching these skills to students is an activity he really enjoys. Some of his hobbies include weightlifting and listening to music.

Ruby Johnson

Ruby is a student at Alameda High School. Her favorite subjects include Math and English. She enjoys tutoring students in both subjects. In her spare time, she also likes to play soccer, read, and spend time with her friends and her cats.

Kasey Ng

Kasey is a junior at ACLC high school and a student at the Peralta Colleges. She was a student at Mathnasium prior to being an instructor and found a great passion for math during the experience of being a student. She was a teacher's assistant for Kindergarteners and high school students for about 2 years prior to joining Mathnasium and has always enjoyed supporting students. She is striving to major in statistics after high school. In her free time, she loves to workout, play games, and hangout with friends.

Bella Goldwasser

Bella Goldwasser is a junior at Alameda High School. She didn't discover a love for math until middle school, with the help of some great teachers, and now hopes to share this appreciation with kids of all ages. Her favorite part of teaching math is explaining and helping kids understand the "why." Outside of work, she participates on a robotics team, volunteers at her temple's religious school, and helps lead a climate action group. In her free time, she loves to read and play the flute.

Caitlin Tran

Caitlin is a junior at Encinal Junior Senior High School. In math, she likes to draw, visualize, and understand how it can help her in her life. Caitlin is a longtime student of math tutoring, and has always wanted to teach other children the fun of math. At Mathnasium, she strives to be understanding but encouraging to math learners. Caitlin has a pet rabbit named Dumbo with big ears, and her favorite hobby is baking.

Kelsey Lamb

Kelsey is a junior at Alameda High School and her favorite classes include physics and calculus. Math has been her favorite subject since elementary school and she is excited to have the opportunity to teach it to other students now. Outside of school she enjoys playing soccer, reading and hanging out with friends.

Briana Saldivar

Briana Saldivar is a senior at Alameda Science and Technology Institute. She is currently completing an IGETC, Psychology Associate Degree, Liberal Arts: Arts and Humanities Associate Degree, and Liberal Arts: Social and Behavioral Associate Degree. Tutoring has always been a passion of hers, and her participation in her school's tutoring club sparked her interest towards being a math tutor. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her friends and cats, listen to music, and go out to restaurants.

Kelly Ye

Kelly Ye is currently a sophomore at UC Berkeley, pursuing a double major in Computer Science and Data Science. Kelly has previously worked as an educator at another tutoring center in addition to coaching high school policy debate. Outside of that, she spearheaded projects aimed at uplifting underrepresented minorities in STEM at Berkeley. She has always enjoyed math and strives to make a STEM education easy and accessible for everyone.

Sebastian Buenfil - Rojas

Sebastian is a senior at Alameda High School. His love for math started in elementary school, and he is always ready to learn more and teach math to anyone wanting to learn. Outside of school and work, Sebastian loves to go on walks in nature, read, play guitar, listen to music, and exercise.

Jeremy Lamb

Jeremy is a sophomore at Alameda High school and his favorite classes are math and computer science. Math has always been one of his favorite subjects and Jeremy enjoys helping students with their math too. Outside of school, he enjoys playing soccer and hanging out with his friends.

Adikkya Rahman

Adikkya Rahman is currently a Junior at Alameda Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) and is dual enrolled in the Peralta Community College System. He is striving to earn an Associate of Science in Mathematics, and an Associate of Arts in Natural Sciences before graduating high school. Adikkya previously tutored children in English, Math, and Religious Studies. His interest in Math sparked when he started seeing it as a game rather than a bunch of letters and numbers. In his spare time, he likes to develop video games, play football, hang out with friends, and learn new things.

Jonah Chan

Jonah Chan is a homeschooled junior in Alameda. He has had extensive experience in math, achieving perfect scores on both the PSAT and SAT math sections and placing in the top 25% on the AMC 10/12. Besides math and analytical thinking, he enjoys piano and classical culture, including Latin and Greek. In his free time, he dabbles in producing music. His favorite part about teaching, and especially teaching math, is seeing the lightbulb go off on a student's face; the moment when they understand the concept for themselves. He strives to help students arrive at the answer on their own so that they can learn and apply problem-solving techniques for themselves.

Blue Stuehrenberg

Blue is a junior at Alameda High School and her favorite subjects include math and biotechnology. She discovered her love for math in the 6th grade when she was introduced to the solving of variables. Outside of school, she enjoys acting in theatre, hiking, girl-scouts, and hanging out with friends.