Top-Rated K-12 Math Tutors - Mathnasium of Littleton

Hello, my name is Spencer Benner! 

I started my journey with Mathnasium in 2018 as an instructor and taught throughout my college career. Early on I fell in love with the atmosphere and opportunities that Mathnasium was able to provide to students and knew this was a place I wanted to be long-term. Upon graduating from the University of Central Florida in 2022, I became the Center Director of the Mathnasium of Oviedo, Florida. 

In 2024, I decided to move across the country to Colorado and continued my passion for education by joining the Littleton Team. I enjoy working with students and meeting with parents to discuss their academic goals and coming up with a game plan to help achieve them!

Favorite Number: My favorite number is 64 because it is satisfying to take the prime factorization of.
Favorite Math Joke: What do you call a number that can't stand still? A ROAMIN' numeral
Fun Fact: I learned to unicycle in 7th grade.
In 5 years, I will be... working in education still!

Karen is a powerhouse in the world of education, with a mission to make math click for every child. Karen’s career in education began in 2004 when she noticed her son was falling behind academically and wanted to help him and students like him get the best support available. Karen earned her master’s and teaching certificate and became a classroom teacher. During her years of teaching, she worked as an interventionist and district liaison for math curriculum and instruction. 

After nearly a decade working in schools, Karen shifted gears to supplemental education in 2013 and opened the doors to her first Mathnasium franchise. Karen's first learning center has been recognized as a top performing location for several years in a row. 

In addition to the work she does at her learning centers, Karen has served on the Mathnasium Franchise Advisory Committee, where her influence has been instrumental in shaping the company's direction and curriculum. Her efforts have led to the frequent adoption of new curriculum and student management systems, ensuring Mathnasium offers the best possible tools to help students excel and instilling confidence in her leadership.   

Some of Karen’s achievements include:

• Franchise Business Rockstar: Karen was nominated by Mathnasium headquarters as the top performing family-owned business representing our brand and was selected by the Franchise Business Review to receive the Franchise Business Rockstar award in 2023. 
• Artichoke Award: The Artichoke Award is a prestigious internal accolade created by Mathnasium’s founder, Larry, and is dedicated to one franchisee at the franchise’s annual convention. The artichoke represents that at the core of the franchisee’s business is their heart surrounded by layers of excellence, a perfect metaphor for Karen's contributions. 
• Exceptional People Award: Karen was recognized for building a team of exceptional educators that drove great results for Mathnasium students.

Today, Karen and her family own a network of Mathnasium Learning Centers, empowering K-12 students to unlock their full math potential.

Youngkun's journey in education began with his pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in Pure Mathematics at Revelle College, University of California San Diego (UCSD). However, his passion soon shifted towards math education, prompting him to change his major to focus on secondary education. Since 2013, Youngkun has been actively involved in tutoring and various educational initiatives, demonstrating his commitment to education both within and beyond academia. 

In January 2015, Youngkun became an instructor at Mathnasium, driven by a desire to make a direct impact on students' mathematical experiences. His dedication and leadership abilities quickly became evident, and by late 2017, he had transitioned to the role of Center Director. His continued success led to his promotion to Director of Operations in early 2023, where he now oversees multiple Mathnasium centers, including those in San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, and Cincinnati. 

Youngkun firmly believes that every student deserves to approach math with confidence. He is a staunch advocate of the Mathnasium method, which emphasizes a deep understanding of mathematical concepts and aims to eliminate the fear of math that often impedes student progress.  

Committed to fostering the personal and professional growth of both instructors and students within his region, Youngkun strives to create an environment where learning math is a positive and empowering experience.

Prior to joining the Mathnasium team full time, Libby attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was the Captain of the UCLA Spirit Squad and traveled the country as the school’s mascot. This multifaceted experience allows her to connect with a wide range of people and fosters a collaborative and engaging atmosphere in her work. In addition to her bachelor's degree from UCLA, Libby holds a certificate in School Management and Leadership from the prestigious Harvard School of Education and Business School.

Some of Libby’s exceptional achievements include:

• Best Overall Marketing in North America: Libby was recognized as the first ever recipient of this award because of her outstanding community and school engagement, media integrations with local news, and overall ambassadorship for the brand.
• Best Assessment Improvement Award: In a franchise of over 1,000 learning centers, Libby’s location showed the best educational results for students overall.
• Local Business Person of the Year: An award voted on by local business owners based on the value of the person’s contributions to their network.

Evan's journey at Mathnasium began in 2013 as an Instructor. His passion for math education stemmed from his own academic journey. In elementary school, Evan overcame challenges in math with supplemental support, ultimately excelling and earning a spot in the accelerated program by high school. Fueled by a desire to help others experience similar success, Evan pursued a bachelor's degree in business management at Texas Tech University. Upon graduating, he leveraged his education and Mathnasium experience to excel as our Director of Human Resources.

Evan is relentlessly committed to providing exceptional customer experiences. His passion for understanding and meeting the needs of our students and their families drives him to continually seek out new knowledge and strategies. From staying on top of industry trends to immersing himself in educational podcasts and webinars, Evan is always on the forefront of customer service best practices. His dedication to creating positive and lasting relationships with our students and their families is evident in everything he does. 

Evan recognizes that happy employees who are thoroughly trained and fully engaged with the work they’re doing produce the best results. Evan hosts weekly trainings and has built continued education programs to empower our team to continue to best themselves. His work was recognized by our headquarters and he was invited to help build national training programs to benefit our entire franchise network. 

Some of Evan’s achievements include:

• Top Workplaces: The Mathnasium team was anonymously surveyed by a third party company, Energage, and the results earned us the coveted gold badge for workplace satisfaction. Mathnasium was recognized as a top ranked workplace in local publications. 
• Best Tutoring / Learning Center: Evan’s Mathnasium learning centers were recognized by local families as the best resource for tutoring in Living Magazine’s reader’s choice awards. 
• World’s Best Dad: According to his wife and two little kids, Oaklee and Everett.

Hello, my name is Zachary and I have been an instructor at Mathnasium of Littleton for 7 years, all the way back to when I was just 15! Besides my passionate love for mathematics & teaching the subject, I enjoy many things. Throughout the year, I play Ultimate Frisbee. In addition, I love to travel, whether it be to Europe, Mexico, Washington D.C., Moab or Glenwood Springs. I traveled to Mexico five years ago to help with a Habitat for Humanity project. In my free time, I enjoy solving logic puzzles, like Sudokus or one of my Rubik's Cubes. I've always loved working with kids and have always enjoyed math so sharing my knowledge with students at Mathnasium is a perfect fit.

Favorite Number:  My favorite number is 1729. There was a man named Srinivasa Ramanujan who was a famous mathematician in the early 20th century. Despite growing up in India and having very limited access to the mathematical knowledge of the time, he taught himself and was sought out by English mathematicians for his work in all fields of math. A colleague and friend of his, G.H. Hardy, visited Srinivasa in the hospital and mentioned that his taxicab number, 1729, was an unusually dull number. Srinivasa remarked that in fact, it was not. 1729 is the smallest number that can be written as the sum of two cubes in two different ways, 10^3+9^3 and 12^3+1^3. Nowadays, 1729 is known as a taxicab number for this exact reason. Additionally, the sum of the digits, 19, times its reverse, 91, gives you back 1729. These types of interesting facts that you can find for every number show the true beauty in mathematics.

Favorite Math Joke: Why do mathematicians always get Christmas and Halloween confused? Because Oct 31 = Dec 25. In base 8 (Oct), the number 31 is the same as the number 25 in base 10 (Dec or Decimal).

Fun Fact: People at school and in the Ultimate Frisbee community call me Steve due to the fact that there were two people named Zach on our high school frisbee team. I received the name Steve and the nickname has stuck ever since.

What is your dream? Living in Spain with an enjoyable career and becoming fluent in Spanish.

Hello, my name is Michael. I am a graduate of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs with a bachelors in mathematics. I have been a college tutor and have worked in an elementary school for five years. I have worked at Mathnasium for 3 years now. I wanted to work at Mathnasium because I enjoy helping people out with concepts and topics that are causing them stress or difficulty. The atmosphere and the vibe Mathnasium gave off was fun and inviting, so naturally I wanted to be a part of the team. I also enjoy working and interacting with kids. I remember tutoring and holding study sessions for a majority of my college algebra class. The experience was fun, plus it was a good feeling to be able to help my fellow classmates not be super stressed out about math. The teacher noticed I was doing these things and after the class was finished, helped me get a job as a tutor at the school's learning center. I hope to use my talents and personality in order to help students be the best they can be. In addition, I want to help them build confidence, not only in math, but in their everyday life as well.

Favorite Number and Why: ​18 because it's cool (and it's my birthday)

Favorite Math Joke: Are monsters good at math? Not unless you Count Dracula.

In 5 years I will be . . . . teaching math.

Fun Fact: I used to play video games competitively.