| Math Dept Bios
Doug O'Roark
[Department Chair]
Doug O'Roark has been the chair of Payton's Mathematics Department and Director of the Seminar Program since the school's inception in 2000. He earned a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and Literature from MIT in 1989, and went on to get a Masters in Mathematics Education at the University of Chicago in 1992. In the 1990s Mr. O'Roark taught at Lincoln Park High School and spent his summers as both a participant and a faculty member of the Park City Math Institute sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Study. In 2002 Mr. O'Roark received the Radio Shack National Teacher Award, and in 2007 the Mathematical Association of America awarded him the Edith May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching. He has given presentations and workshops in Chicago, San Antonio, San Francisco, and at PROFMAT, the Portuguese National Math Education Conference. Mr. O'Roark also directs the City of Chicago Math League, and is the head coach of Payton's Math Team, winner of four consecutive state championships.
Email: oroarkd@wpcp.org
Carrie Abrams
Carrie Abrams joined the Payton staff in 2005 with five years of teaching experience. She previously taught at Kenwood Academy where she was the math team and academic decathlon team coach. She is excited to assist in coaching the state champion math team at Payton! Before entering education Ms. Abrams attended Vanderbilt University where she majored in mathematics and secondary education. In her spare time she enjoys coaching the ARML math team, jogging, reading girlie books, and spending time with friends and her soon-to-be hubby Matt.
Email: abramsc@wpcp.org
Anita Aysola
Anita Aysola graduated from the University of Michigan with a major in mathematics, a minor in music, and secondary teacher certification. Ms. Aysola joined the Peace Corps in Kenya after graduation. After returning from the Peace Corps, Ms. Aysola started a career as an Actuarial Consultant for Hewitt Associates. She made the step into teaching when joining the math department at New Trier High School in 2002 and then joined the math department at Payton in 2005. Ms. Aysola attended the Park City Math Institute for Secondary School Teachers in the Summer of 2006. Last summer, Ms. Aysola traveled to India on a Fulbright Scholarship for math and science educators. When she is not teaching mathematics, Ms. Aysola enjoys practicing and teaching yoga, and performing music professionally with local bands.
Email: aysolaa@wpcp.org
Scott Galson
Scott Galson earned his B.A. in economics and psychology from Colby College and his M.S. in mathematics education from Northwestern University. He is currently pursuing his National Board Certification. Scott came to education after working in economic forecasting. He and his wife enjoy the outdoors and love to bike, hike, and ski with their two sons. Before moving out to Illinois in 2003 from New England, Scott and his wife lived for two years in Suriname, South America as volunteers in the Peace Corps.
Email: galsons@wpcp.org
Website: sites.wpcp.org/galsons
Byron Espinoza
Byron Espinoza came to Payton in the fall of 2005. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002 with a Bachelor's degree in Physics. During his time as an undergrad, Byron worked as a part-time math tutor which eventually turned his interest towards the field of Education. He is currently completing a Master's program in Math Education through the U of I. When he is not in school, Byron enjoys spending time with his wife and young daughter, as well as playing with just about any high tech gadget he can get his hands on.
Email: espinoza@wpcp.org
Margie Harkins
Margie Harkins joined the Walter Payton team in 2006 and in the past year she has enjoyed assisting with a few clubs at school including the math team and the Building with Books Club. Her ten years of math teaching experience include both teaching in Chicago and internationally. After obtaining a degree in mathematics and secondary education at St. Norbert College, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer teacher in Ghana, West Africa for over three years. She spent two years with CPS at Prosser Career Academy and then headed to Ecuador, South America for four years to teach math at an International American School in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Ms. Harkins returned to the U.S. after taking a one year sabbatical from teaching and spent a year traveling the world. She has nearly completed all of her coursework to obtain a Master's Degree in Secondary Education. In addition to teaching, Ms. Harkins enjoys traveling, spending time with friends & family, volunteering, and taking advantage of all the wonderful things that Chicago has to offer. One of the highlights from last school year was that Ms. Harkins was selected to join a team of Chicago Public School teachers and students to travel to Mali, West Africa with the Building with Books Club and help build a school for a needy community.
Email: harkinsm@wpcp.org
Paul Karafiol
Paul Karafiol has been teaching for twelve years, at Phillips Academy, Andover, Providence-St. Mel School, and since Fall of 2000, at Walter Payton College Prep. Mr. Karafiol graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in Philosophy in 1992 and received an A.M. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1994, specializing in ethics and logic. He created Walter Payton's student development program, was an initial sponsor of the Gay-Straight Alliance, and has coached the math team since the school's opening. Mr. Karafiol also created and continues to supervise the PALS peer mentoring program, in which upperclass students run freshman orientation and freshman advisory lessons. Mr. Karafiol coaches the developmental team for the Chicago Area All-Star Math Team, for which he also co-authors the tryouts. He is a co-author of the forthcoming textbooks Advanced Algebra Third Edition and Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry Third Edition from the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project. Mr. Karafiol is a problem author and reviewer for the AMC-10/12, AIME, and ARML competitions. He is one of two 9-12 directors on the Board of the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics and serves on the appeals committee at the ICTM State Math Contest. Mr. Karafiol has spoken at a variety of local and national conferences, including Mathfest (summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America), NCTM National and Regional conferences, and the Metropolitan Math Club annual Conference of Workshops.
Email: karafiolp@wpcp.org
Website: sites.wpcp.org/karafiolp
Georgia Tolias
Georgia Tolias joined the Payton faculty in 2005 after having spent the previous 12 years as a full-time mathematics professor at Purdue University Calumet and DePaul University. She completed her doctorate in mathematics education from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. Dr. Tolias is excited to be a coach for Payton's Math Team and enjoys cooking, dancing, and traveling in her spare time.
Email: toliasg@wpcp.org
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TEACHER BIOS
Doug O'Roark
Carrie Abrams
Anita Aysola
Scott Galson
Byron Espinoza
Margie Harkins
Paul Karafiol
Georgia Tolias
Algebra I
Geometry
Algebra II AB
Algebra II BC
Pre-Calculus AB
Pre-Calculus BC
AP AB Calculus
AP BC Calculus
AP Statistics
Kaleidoscopic Advanced Mathematics I
Kaleidoscopic Advanced Mathematics II
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