Meet the Team at Mathnasium of Papillion

Robyn Helwig

Robyn Helwig (she/her/hers) is a current graduate student at College of Saint Mary studying Elementary Education with a K-6 Special Education endorsement. She moved from Oregon to teach theater at the Rose Theater, and has been a theater educator at the Rose, Omaha Community Playhouse, and the Apollon Arts Space for the past five years, working with students ages 4 to 18. She is also the Camp Director for Oxbow Animal Health’s junior vet camp, a summer camp exploring veterinary and animal science for 2nd-5th graders. During the school year she works as an educational assistant in the special education department at Oakdale Elementary in the Westside School District. When Robyn isn’t teaching, she enjoys getting back to her theatrical roots and designing props and sets for local theaters and making silly jokes with her improv teams. Robyn loves solving logic puzzles, making music, marathoning Netflix, and eating burritos. She lives in Omaha with four guinea pigs: Midnight, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and C.J., as well as her furry roommate, Pancake the Cat, (who has way more followers than she does on Instagram!).

Michaela Ziebell

Michaela has an Associates degree in Science and was on the Dean's List multiple times. She is a Senior at UNO, majoring in Mathematics and minoring in Criminal Justice. She has always had a passion for math, including going to a math contest in 8th grade (placing 4th out of 100 students). Michaela has done a year of python programming, and found it came in handy for long math problems. She has tutored family and friends in mathematics, even her own parents. She spends her time reading and learning random facts that will help her if she's ever on Jeopardy. She loves spending time with her family and traveling. Her favorite number is a mole, 6.02×10^23 (Avogadro's number) because her chemistry teacher made the joke "Avogadro loves guaca-MOLE." Terrible pun, but she's never forgotten it.

James Le

James is a UNO student studying to earn his teaching degree. While his focus is chemistry, his passion lies with the students. The subject doesn't matter as much as watching the lightbulbs turn on in the kids' heads. He's had many opportunities to work with students through his debate coaching career at Millard North and with UNO through practicum experiences. James has taken math classes such as AP Calculus BC/IB-DP Higher Level Math and frequently uses math in his chemistry and physics classes. When not doing math, he's enjoying playing video games, working out, or spending time with his friends. James's favorite number is 10. He's found that the number not only gives him a lot of luck, but it also shows up in a lot of things and tends to be a good number to strive to hit.

Patty Hastings

Patty currently teaches 1st grade. During her 40-year teaching career, she has taught every elementary grade level except 2nd! Patty has also taught Math for Elementary Teachers at UNO. She holds a Master of Teaching degree in Mathematics as well as an Early Childhood endorsement. During her free time, Patty enjoys puzzles like Sudoku, Wordle and crosswords. She likes to camp with her husband, play with her 4 grandchildren and binge watch Netflix. Working at Mathnasium enables Patty to use her love of math AND teaching!

David Rice

David is currently a Junior at Concordia High School and has completed math classes up to AP Calculus AB and has applied his skills many times through robotics and programming. Once he gets out of high school, he hopes to major in mechanical engineering, concentrating in mechatronics at a college yet to be determined. He started by tutoring his siblings, cousins, and classmates and wanted to show how exciting math really is to others by helping them overcome their difficulties. In his free time, he enjoys going on a run, working out, and playing the violin. His favorite number is 4096 because of its satisfying factors and roots.

Sam Emerson

Sam is a Maine Native and an Airman 1st Class in the USAF stationed at Offutt AFB and working in cyber security. Since graduating from The Maine School of Science and Mathematics in 2018, he is three years into an Engineering Physics degree at the University of Maine Orono. Sam has experience with algebra, calculus, differential equations, and special relativity! Throughout his time in school, Sam has tutored his little sister, Maddy, as well as his fellow classmates. His love of math and assisting others in their academic pursuits, brought him to Mathnasium. When not tutoring, Sam enjoys talking with family back home, videogames and studying aeronautics and rocketry. Sam also carves out time to travel to national parks to appreciate the breathtaking views of beautiful landscapes, as well as the prairies, and nature of Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas. Sam’s favorite number is 3, not just due to it being one of the first prime numbers, but also because as the saying goes, “Third time’s the charm.”

Beth Paleogos

Beth is a grant writer and program manager for AmeriCorps Seniors at the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging (ENOA). Prior to that, she taught 4th and 5th grade math and science. When not working, Beth enjoys reading, baking, playing the piano and watching international television shows. She lives with her husband Todd and daughter Katie and their fur baby Samson.

Jacob Westby

Jacob is a college student who loves math, speech and theater. He is taking Calculus at UNO and will eventually transfer to UNL to complete his degree in secondary education. In his spare time, Jacob loves watching movies, playing video games, theater and judging speech tournaments. He also enjoys hanging out with his friends and so much more. His favorite number is 100. It's not because of any big reason, but because he loved counting to 100 as a kid and getting excited about it.