About
What We do
MathMinds currently hosts online classes for a variety of math-based courses (see Courses Page). Each class can last 1-3 hours, and during that time we go through a variety of activities such as lectures, practice problems, and individual one-on-one help. MathMinds teaches courses that are heavily based in mathematics and logic like AP Computer Science A, SAT/ACT Math, and more to come. However, upon further contact, arrangements can be made for other subject and individualized tutoring. We also offer college mentors to help individuals with their college application process without worrying about the price barrier.
Our Story
Competing in their respective middle school's math team circuits and falling in love with the subject, the co-founders Krishnachandra Nair and Roshan Thekiniath wanted to get more involved in the math community. Realizing the difficulties a student could potentially face with inadequate resources and mentoring when learning math outside of school, Krishnachandra and Roshan decided the best way to get involved in the community was to help ameliorate that problem. At first wanting to start out helping the same math team community that they once participated in, they reached out to Krishnachandra's former middle school, Fischer Middle School, to set up an after-school program to teach competitive math at Fischer Middle school with the approval of their high school in their freshman year. After spending a year teaching students at Fischer, Krishnachandra and Roshan decided they wanted to help the larger math community in Aurora. Krishnachandra and Roshan then opened up their program to also teach SAT math as well as contacting the local libraries in Aurora to run the program within the library to reach an even larger audience in need. In the middle of that transition in 2018, Teodor Tchalakov and Zach Eness joined the team to better improve the program and help teach even more students. After, Krishnachandra and Roshan graduated high school, Teodor and Zach have continued to keep up the tutoring service. They have added more classes and are working to expand the number tutors and students that they can reach during the COVID-19 pandemic by switching to online classes.
The Team
The MathMinds team is made up of two alumnus and two seniors at the Illinois Math and Science Academy.
Krishnachandra Nair
A sophomore at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League institution, studying Economics and Computer Science as a pre-medical student and an alumni of Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA). Krishna earned a perfect score on the ACT and SAT Subject Test Math Level 2 as well as a 99+ percentile score on the SAT. He is also is a three-time national medalist in the National French Competition, a National AP Scholar, National Merit Finalist, top 10 ranked state debater, 3-time finalist at the state neuroscience competition, and head tutor and writing center tutor at IMSA from 2018 to 2020. He will host seminars on various topics such as how to analyze language, ask the right questions in research, how to approach making your college list, and others as requested.
Roshan Thekiniath
A sophomore studying Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, a top institution for Computer Science, and an alumni of the Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA). Roshan earned a perfect score on the SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Test Math Level 2, and various AP Exams including Computer Science A, Calculus BC, Statistics, Chemistry, Physics C, Biology, and Human Geography. He is also a USAJMO qualifier, National AP Scholar, Presidential Scholar, National Merit Finalist, Gold Medalist in the National Spanish Examination, peer tutor at IMSA, and a machine learning and astrophysics researcher at Fermilab. He will host seminars about various topics in math, physics, computer science, the college process, and others as requested.
Teodor Tchalakov
A freshman majoring in Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) through the Grainger College of Engineering, Teodor has been a tutor for 3 years and passionate about programming, robotics, physics, and math. Teodor earned an A in both semesters of AP Computer Science A in his freshman year, served as the head of programming for IMSA's Titan Robotics FRC team, and led the team to win the Midwest Regional competition in 2020 and qualify for the Worlds FRC Robots competition. Teodor also conducted research on CMS particle physics at Fermi National Laboratory where he writes programs in C++, Bash, and Python. He has been helping students with programming at IMSA and is excited to teach interested students who want to learn Java so that they can also feel inspired by the possibilities of programming as he was.
