Way to Go! Herricks High student Kevin Zhu donates tutoring fees to Global Business Coalition for Education

A Herricks High School student has turned a tutoring program into an engine to fund education for those who need it most.

Kevin Zhu, a senior, is the chief executive officer and founder of Academix, which is a tutoring program that offers sessions both in person and through the communications platform Zoom. The program currently has four tutors, including Zhu, and covers core subjects for approximately 15 local clients.

Zhu is donating 80% of the program’s proceeds to the Global Business Coalition for Education in Manhattan. The program’s first donation was in the amount of $1,000 in August.

“We wanted to broaden our impact to people . . . who really need education the most,” Zhu said.

Zhu, 17, is also founder of his school’s Anime Club, president of the Chinese Cultural Club, vice president of the Community Club, and a member of the school’s chamber orchestra, DECA Club and Tri-M Music Honor Society. In addition, he has played violin at the all-county and all-state levels as well as with the Long Island String Festival Association at the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra.

Zhu’s other activities include conducting biomedical engineering research with Hassan Arbab, who is an assistant professor at Stony Brook University. He also volunteers at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Queens and is a member of the Giving Tree Family, a group of local middle and high schoolers who strive to help those in need.

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.