By ABBY TOWNSON / For the Reporter

HOOVER – Noticing a greater need for tutors among his fellow students, Ben Peinhardt, a junior at Spain Park High School, recently expanded his part-time work as a math tutor into a charitable business called Student Teachers, a tutoring service for students from the elementary to high school levels.

Started over the summer, Student Teachers now has a team of nine tutors able to assist students in subjects ranging from English to AP Physics. Qualified tutors must be juniors or seniors in high school, must have taken at least two Advanced Placement classes and must have a GPA of 3.5 or more.

Though still a young business, Student Teachers has already helped approximately 40 students, most attendees of Spain Park High School. For Peinhardt, however, the mission of Student Teachers isn’t personal profit, but expanding opportunities to help those in need.

“It was never about starting a successful business,” Peinhardt said. “It was about starting a business that could fund charitable work.”

Each tutoring session costs $20 per hour, and while $15 goes to the tutor, the remaining $5 is divided equally into two funds. The first fund contributes to a list of charities, including Makena Children’s Foundation, Changed Lives Christian Center, Boy Scouts of America and Pampered Parrots Avian Rescue.

The group of charities might seem eclectic, but according to Peinhardt that is because each tutor gets to choose a charity that Student Teachers contributes to. The first on the list, Makena Children’s Foundation, will be receiving its donation on Oct. 1.

The remaining $2.50 from each session is being saved to fund an upcoming project of Student Teachers, which will offer free tutoring to students from Birmingham inner city schools. The money will go toward transportation and school supplies for the students. It is this work, along with the contributions to charity that Peinhardt considers the most important accomplishment of Student Teachers.

“That is the ultimate goal,” Peinhardt said. “To provide educational services to those who need it, but can’t afford it.”

To learn more about Student Teachers, email StudentTeachersAL@gmail.com or call 205-641-0594.