Tutors for a Cure keeps expanding

Nearly two years ago, three Kennedy High School students –– Samantha Finkel, Ross Iscowitz and Jordan Horowitz –– had an idea. They wanted to start a tutoring business so they could educate their peers in a variety of subjects. They put their plan into action during their junior year, but instead of keeping the profits, they sent part of the proceeds to the American Cancer Society, and thus, Tutors for a Cure was born.

The three students, who are all in Advanced Placement classes, charge $25 per hour for their services, and donate 20 percent to cancer research. After one year, the trio employed eight tutors, whom they recruited, and cumulatively, they tutored about 25 students. By year’s end, they had raised $500 for cancer research.

Fast-forward to April 2012. Finkel, 18, Iscowitz, 17, and Horowitz, 18, are now seniors, and are in their second year running Tutors For a Cure. Their tutors have nearly doubled to 15, their clientele has expanded to triple digits, and to date, the group has raised more than $2,000 for the American Cancer Society. “Our popularity has exploded beyond anything we imagined,” said Iscowitz of Merrick.

“Because we have had such success, we’ve really expanded and had a lot more students come to us for help,” added Horowitz of Bellmore.

The group’s popularity has spread primarily through word of mouth, and an aesthetically pleasing and easily accessible website has also helped the group reach out to clients. But it also helps that the trio, along with their tutors, are really smart. “We do pretty much every high school course you can name in Regents level, Honors and in AP,” said Iscowitz.

Additionally, Finkel said that the group also teaches people how to use Apple Macintosh computers, iPads and iPhones.

“Not that we weren’t organized before, but now we know what we’re doing,” Finkel said. “We just keep setting goals higher and higher.”Clients range in age from 12 to 17. Though all of the group’s tutors come from Kennedy, its popularity has grown such that it recently began tutoring students from other communities.