ELIAS AMRO LEARN TODAY, LEAD TOMORROW

by Hala Alanani - Al-Quds Bard College of Arts and Sciences

A Big Idea Is Hatched

Sometimes, big ideas come from minor opportunities. Elias Amro is a graduate of Al-Quds Bard College with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Economics. In his final year at college, while working on his senior project, he took an OSUN course called "Social Entrepreneurship." He was already thinking about creating an educational hub for students across the OSUN community, where students connect to share learning opportunities. Through the course, he created Investapeer Academy, which he describes as “an online peer tutoring platform constructed to give youth around the world growth on a personal, professional, and locally viable level, starting with Palestine." Although the project began with four teammates, it became a reality with the hard work of two Palestinian students, computer scientist Elias Amro, and a third-year economist, Natalia Handal.

Elias grew up in Palestine, so he understands the struggles people go through there. "Growing up, my family was not doing the best financially, so I had to struggle to get my education, having to work jobs in construction,” he said. “Luckily, I could secure a scholarship to get my education and not have to focus purely on work. However, I realize that not everyone is as lucky as me.

Furthermore, I realized that the skills I was able to secure jobs through were not things I had learned in university but were self-taught. This further pushes people away from education and makes it more of a luxury to pursue That's why I wanted to make a change, to remove the dilemma between education and work, to make education a right rather than a luxury, and make education a more tailored and valuable experience "

The Investapeer Academy

The Investapeer Academy bridges both technology and educational services. By combining the two, Elias and Natalia have created an online education service that fills the gaps of pre-existing educational tech companies. While the previously mentioned companies offer plenty of opportunities, none provide free quality education with various services in the target audiences' preferred time zone and language. The Academy starts with the problems of uneducated youth and the lack of quality educational resources throughout Palestine, then proceeds with the idea that Palestinian youth are full of innovative ideas but lack guidance and financial support for their implementation.

The Investapeer Academy is created from and for students: an online platform designed and made to function by a student in Computer Science, Elias, with the help of financial and managing assistance by a student in Economics, Natalia, for students in Palestine and across the network. Students themselves realize they might get the best benefit if they exchange knowledge with each other. In the Investapeer online platform, you can find many clubs, classes, and workshops: If you want to discuss something in biology that you cannot fully understand, you can join the platform and get to know people who share the same interests and are experts in the area. As a student who is doing well in one subject, for example, and feels you can be a good tutor, you can also create your group, and if verified, you can start up your class!

In the OSUN Social Entrepreneurship course, Investapeer Academy was elected to compete globally to win a financial prize to To help attract investments and was ranked the second top project in a global competition hosted by OSUN.