LFHS Students to Pitch at "Shark Tank" Style Business Pitch Night

Peach Academics, one of 14 student-developed businesses in the Business Incubator program at Lake Forest High School, has found a solution to provide students with homework help late at night when scheduling a tutor is out of the question.

Annabelle Capstick, Brandon Rancap, Cameron Litzsinger, Jon Day, and Leo Spano, the founders of Peach Academics, have developed an instant peer tutoring platform that connects students with an experienced peer tutor within the student's school, immediately, at times when they are most vital. The modern day high school student is responsible for completing homework for their six subjects, followed by extracurricular activities such as athletic events, service, or clubs. This schedule allows for only a small window at night for homework to be completed. With such busy schedules, how are students supposed to balance each aspect of their life, while still excelling in the classroom and meeting their goals? Peach Academics has developed solution to this all too common problem.

Imagine being confused about a recently learned lesson, or stuck on a problem on your homework. Already exhausted from a baseball game, and with the clock ticking until the due date or test arrives, you feel helpless with nowhere to turn. You can’t contact your tutor at this hour, your parents are asleep, and some of your friends have their own work to complete. Now imagine having peer tutors at your disposal, late at night when you need it the most. Peach has engineered a program in which schools purchase a platform that grants their students access to a 24/7 instant peer tutoring program. The beauty of Peach is that it gives students the option of receiving the help they need on their school work as well as the opportunity for peer tutors within the school to be able to receive course credit, service hours, or cash compensation for their time. The program creates a true community within a school. Any one from a seriously struggling student, to someone who may only need help on one problem, starts by logging onto their website (peachedu.com) and they select the class in which they need help. They are then able to select from a wide variety of peer tutors who have mastered that past course within their own school’s curriculum. When connected, the students will be able to interact with the tutors via video chat, screen-sharing, live screen whiteboards, and messaging. All sessions can be monitored by schools for safety, and all data such as time and rating can be saved and accessed for students to logged hours spent learning or tutoring. Their program fills the gaps in which scheduled tutors and other online tutorial sources miss. Today, it could take weeks to schedule and meet with an overpriced tutor. Also, online academic help sites such as Khan Academy, Chegg Tutors, tutor.com, or TutorVista, can not provide students with the personalized and interactive help that they need. Peach Academics strives to create the best quality product possible so every student receives the best help possible. To insure that this quality meets the standards of every high school, they have already talked to some of the most prestigious high schools in Illinois such as Lake Forest High School, Glenbrook South High School, and Loyola Academy, all who have expressed interest in purchasing the program.

Peach Academics currently has a working prototype and will be pitching their business plan and financials to potential investors on Thursday, May 26, 2016 (5/26/16) at Lake Forest High School. If you are interested in attending this “Shark Tank” style event as a possible investor, or as a school administrator interested in our service please contact lfhsfoundationbi@gmail.com and contact@peachedu.com prior to May 20th. This event is open to the public and everyone in the community is highly encouraged to attend.

For more information about Peach Academics, go to peachedu.com or contact us at (847) 282-0882. Uber-style tutoring is coming soon to a school near you. Want Peach Academics in your school? Contact Peach Academics or notify your school administrators that this would benefit your school.

About the LFHS Business Incubator

With the help of real-world entrepreneurs and business experts, students in the Lake Forest High School Business Incubator class learn how to become entrepreneurs by creating and fully developing their own products. Over the course of a year, students learn about the process of ideation, business development, market research, marketing strategy, financial modeling, web development, and all the essentials for starting a business. The program compares to any professional business incubator such as “1871” in Chicago, or the Lake Forest Business Accelerator. At the end of the year, students participate in Pitch Week, an opportunity to pitch their product or service to real investors with the hope of turning their business plans into reality during their senior year.

The Business Incubator program at Lake Forest High School is funded by the Lake Forest High School Foundation. For more information, go to http://lfhsfoundation.org/about/business-incubator/