Kennedy Students Tutor for a Cure

Editor's Note: This article was written and submitted by Chris Boyle.

At John F. Kennedy High School, a special student-created and run program, just in its second year, is already making waves in the community.

Tutors for a Cure, helmed by co-presidents Natalie Giovino and Rachel Kessler, both Kennedy seniors, is looking to make a difference in people’s lives in two very distinct ways.

“Tutors for a Cure is a peer tutoring organization and 20 percent of our profits goes to the American Cancer Society,” Giovino said. “So this not only benefits students who are being tutored, but it also helps in the fight against cancer.”

Kessler said Tutors for a Cure takes the limited means of your average high schooler into account when it comes to how much they charge.

“It’s much more affordable than other tutoring programs,” she said. “We only charge $25 for an hour, while a normal tutor would be anywhere between $60 and $100.”

But that small fee, due to overwhelming demand from the student body, soon snowballed into a sizable donation for the Cancer Society, said Giovino.

“We made donations from every $500 we raised last year,” she said. “So, we made a donation about every month and a half during the 10-month school year. It was probably a few thousand dollars in total.”

Giovino said that she and Kessler hand-pick the members of her organization, which currently totals about 25 student tutors.

“Applicants are initially recommended by their teachers,” she said. “The teachers look out for students who they think are confident and mature and would make good tutors. After that, they have to fill out an application on our website, meet us in person and then we make the selection.”

Tutors for a Cure isn’t just limited to Kennedy; they will gladly help any student within the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School district. However, the early success of the program already has its co-presidents thinking about the future, Kessler said.

“We’re thinking ahead, and when we graduate, we’ll select new presidents and have then select the next tutors so we can keep this going each year,” she said.

Helping out such an important charity easily makes all the hard work worth it, said Giovino.

“It’s nice to be contributing to such a world-wide and such a prestigious cancer organization as the American Cancer Society,” she said. “I’m sure they appreciate every donation they get, and we just want to help as much as possible.”

Kessler also expressed a great deal of satisfaction in doing what she does with Tutors for a Cure.

“It’s great,” she said. “I tutored last year as well. So many students need tutoring but they’re scared to ask for it, but when there’s a peer that’s helping you, it isn’t so scary. When I helped a girl last year get a great grade on her regents, it was just as rewarding for me as it was for her.”

If you're interested in learning more about Tutors for a Cure, their website is www.tutorsforacure.com and their e-mail address is tutorsforacure@gmail.com.