Our Team at Mathnasium of Elmhurst

Jacob Harvey

Jacob has been with Mathnasium for more than five years and has also worked as a substitute teacher in high school math. He holds a degree in General Mathematics from Illinois State University and is completing a Master of Arts in Teaching at McKendree University. 

He loves math for its balance of structure and complexity, with Algebra and Trigonometry among his favorite subjects. In his free time, Jacob enjoys baseball and piano. His favorite joke? Pi’s phone bill is high because it goes on and on forever. 

Richard Jeffrey

Richard brings 40 years of classroom teaching experience to Mathnasium. Known for making new ideas simple and memorable, he is passionate about showing students that learning can be fun. 

Beyond math, Richard is also a musician, director, and composer, with a deep interest in history and space. He often shares one of his favorite reminders with students: “Curiosity is the essence of our existence.” His enthusiasm inspires learners to approach both math and the wider world with curiosity. 

Shelvin John

Shelvin is a York Highschool Alumni currently studying Industrial Engineering. He also loves to travel and explore different areas of the world and is always eager to learn more. Shelvin believes that trying to understand math allows one to truly make sense of the world around us since we are constantly surrounded by equations, patterns, numbers, and etc. Outside of math, Shelvin also loves to cook, lift weights, and play the piano!

*FUN FACTS*
-Favorite color: Green
-Favorite Math Subject: Calculus I
-Favorite Math Joke: Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9

Nathan Stout

Nathan is currently in his first year at College of DuPage majoring in mechanical engineering. Nathan has enjoyed math since he learned to count to 10 and is excited to share this passion with others. In his free time you can find Nathan playing video games or sports.

*FUN FACTS*

-Favorite color: red
-Favorite math topic: Integral Calculus
-Favorite Math Joke: Why can’t you trust an atom? Because they make up everything.

Mansi Shah

Mansi is a recent graduate from York Community High School. Her passions include physics, biology, and helping others. She also enjoys tennis, drawing, color guard, and, of course, math. She currently plans on pursuing a bachelors in BioMedical Engineering.

*FUN FACTS*
-Favorite Color: Purple!
-Favorite Math Topic: Derivatives
-Favorite Math Joke:
To the person who invented zero...
thanks for nothing!

Danny Khananisho

Danny works as a professor of philosophy but also has a passion for math. He also used to tutor math when he was a college student as well. Besides teaching and tutoring, Danny enjoys traveling the world in his free time.

*FUN FACTS*
-Favorite Color: Black
-Favorite Math Topic: Logic
-Favorite Math/Logic Joke: A writer, scientist, and mathematician are on a train in the countryside.

The writer spots a black sheep in the field and says "Look all the sheep in the country side must be black."

The scientist says "No way! Only some of the sheep in the country side are likely to be black."

The mathematician pauses for a moment and says "In at least one field in the countryside, the is at least one sheep with at least one side that is black." The farmer nearby looks up and says, “Actually, that sheep is just visiting from the next farm over.” XD

The moral of the story is that assumptions, no matter how logical they seem, can still be wrong if you don’t have all the information. Just when the writer, scientist, and mathematician think they’ve carefully defined the truth, reality proves to be more complex than they expected.