Our Team at Mathnasium of Hillsboro

Alaina

A life-long Oregonian, Alaina earned a degree in Journalism from Multnomah University. After graduating, she freelanced before finding a passion for teaching. She worked as a private tutor for speakers of other languages before joining the Mathnasium team in 2020. Alaina loves finding creative and effective ways to help children grasp math concepts. She feels the world runs on math, and when kids understand math, they understand their world better, too. When she’s not teaching at Mathnasium, Alaina continues tutoring English, history, and writing. She also enjoys learning languages, baking, writing, and gaming.

Bruce Withycombe

By owning a Mathnasium franchise, Bruce has come full circle back to the joy of mathematics and problem solving that lead him to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Lewis & Clark College. In addition to studying Math while in college, Bruce played Varsity Football, earned extra money as a Math Tutor and was involved with student government. After graduation he studied Actuarial Science at Georgia State University and began a career in the Pension and Retirement Plans Industry, working with consulting firms and insurance companies in that capacity. An opportunity to work in healthcare consulting moved Bruce into the Health Services Industry, where he most recently worked with WebMD Health Services as National Account Manager. Outside of Mathnasium, Bruce has 3 school aged children, which keeps things very busy with school, music, and athletic events. Bruce has spent many seasons as a youth basketball coach, and in his spare time works as a musician, playing in multiple bands in the Portland area including Ural Thomas & The Pain (uralthomasandthepain.com) , Jujuba (jujuba.org), the Goodfoot All-Stars and the WayDowns (thewaydowns.net). Bruce is a member of The Portland Horns, who have played with national touring acts such as The Decemberists, The Violent Femmes, Spoon, Bobby Bare Jr, The Next Waltz and many others. His discography includes credits with Ural Thomas & The Pain, Jujuba, The Decemberists, The Kathy Walker Band, NRVS LVRS, Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons, Casey Neil & the Norway Rats, Point Juncture WA, Kory Quinn and a host of others. Bruce is very excited to be opening mathematical doors using the Mathnasium method of developing number sense. He feels strongly that math skills are not only important from a technical standpoint, but also as a solid foundation of logic and problem solving skills that is not only relevant, but crucial to success in many disciplines.

Christopher

Chris believes that having a good number sense is an essential skill, but also that math is a worthwhile pursuit on its own. He began studying math at Case Western Reserve University and transferred to the University of Oregon where he earned his bachelor’s degree. Between years of school, he’s worked as support staff for people with disabilities and as a digital literacy tutor at a local community college. In his spare time, Chris enjoys cooking, playing chess, fidgeting with computers, and hiking around our beautiful Oregon nature parks. He’s excited to share his enthusiasm for learning, and he’s hoping to help students find an appreciation for how fun math can be!

Ronan

Rónan loves math for its ability to discover, communicate, and prove universal laws. He studied Studio Art with a specialty in Metalsmithing at Colorado State University, and currently studies gemology at the GIA. A decent sum of his art centers around geometry and topology, which constantly deepen his admiration for theoretical and practical mathematics. Outside of instructing, Rónan enjoys working on his art, MMA, playing the drums/piano, and growing carnivorous plants. He wants to show students how math is an essential part of any passion they may choose to pursue, and make said math feel less daunting.