We are excited to introduce you to another one of our wonderful instructors! Riley has been with Mathnasium for quite a while and here is a brief interview we did with Riley.
Q: On your team bio it says you recently graduated from UCLA. What are your plans for the future?
I am currently working towards a career in the software engineering field. Although I majored in bioengineering, I decided pretty early on that I didn't want to work in that field. Programming is something that I've always been interested in, and my coding classes were the ones I enjoyed the most during my time at UCLA.
Q: Cool! What exactly made you want to work in that field?
Growing up, I have always been fascinated with technology. I also love building and creating things. Learning to code kind of tied these two interests together. It also provides me with the opportunity to harness the full potential of the technology that I work with every day. Now, instead of being limited to computer programs written by other people, I can write my own programs that are custom built to help simplify everyday tasks.
Q: Do you plan on working in software engineering for the rest of your career?
It's too early to tell, but I'm also interested in going into the education field at some point. This interest is what led me to start working at Mathnasium in the first place. In particular, I'd like to become a high school math or science teacher. I really enjoy leading students to those "aha!" moments, and feel like high school teachers can play an important role at a pivotal time in students' lives.
Q: So do you have other experiences teaching outside of Mathnasium? 
Yes, I actually invested a lot of time in college towards a potential career in education. During my third year at UCLA, I completed a CalTeach internship at a local elementary school, where I worked with the students each week and eventually taught my own science lesson. I also spent a few months after college working as a private tutor for math, physics, and chemistry, and even taught the Elite Winter SAT Bootcamp this past winter!
Q: Interesting. So how long have you worked at Mathnasium?
I started working at the Mathnasium of Garden Grove back in May of 2017. From there, I relocated to the Westwood and eventually the Santa Monica location. I recently moved back to the Garden Grove center after graduating. In total, it's been about three years.
Q: That's quite a few locations. Was there a reason you switched between centers?
Since I attended UCLA, I couldn't continue working at the Garden Grove center after the summer ended, which is why I moved to the Westwood location. After working there for two quarters, I decided to take a quarter off since I was doing the CalTeach internship. When the summer came around, I reapplied at the Santa Monica location and ended up working there for over a year.
Q: Are there any math tricks that you'd like to share?
This is one that I actually didn't know about until I started working here. To figure out if a number is divisible by 3, you can just add the digits together and see if their sum is divisible by 3. So, for 123,456, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21. Since 21 is divisible by 3, 123,456 is also divisible by 3.
Q: What are your favorite things to do outside of work?
I really enjoy playing sports, and usually play basketball and soccer once a week. Aside from that, I've been investing a lot of time recently into my personal programming projects.
I also love going on adventures and exploring new places. I've gone on a few road trips with friends throughout college. We went to Seattle, the Grand Canyon, and Yosemite over three consecutive winter breaks.
Want to learn more about our Instructors? Check out our other instructors here on our team page.
(714) 696-8382
