Junior Auxiliary of Vicksburg is continuing their pledge to serve the community by offering tutoring sessions to third-graders.

The organization’s TEACH program is a free monthly tutoring session.

Junior Auxiliary member and Bowmar Elementary School teacher Carolyn Bradley said they specifically address common core objectives at the session.

“The sessions consist of stations that target reading, language, and math Common Core objectives,” she said. “Each student will have the opportunity to rotate through each session. The stations are designed to be fun and educational.”

Bradley said the project is open to all third-graders.

“This is a great project that was created in an effort to help those students who may need a little extra help in order to pass the third-grade gate,” she said. “We really want more kids to benefit from this project.”

Program chair Blair Hill said the next session would be held Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Jackson Street Community Center at 923 Walnut Street.

“We will provide a pizza lunch for the participants in the tutoring session,” she said.

Hill said last year the organization targeted kindergarten and first-grade students, but due to the laws passed this year requiring all third-graders to pass their state test in order to advance, the decision was made to target third-graders this year.

“Our goal target is students who need a little extra help,” she said. “We have been doing the sessions once a month, and we plan on doing one more in April.”

Hill said a diverse group of individuals in Junior Auxiliary come together to make this project a reality.

“I’m a nurse, one of the girls is an accountant, one girl is a stay at home mom and there’s one teacher currently on the project,” she said. “There are also other various professionals.”

Hill said the Junior Auxiliary members purchased special educational materials to help with the tutoring.

“We purchased educational materials from an actual company that teachers and schools buy from that we use at all of our stations,” she said.

The materials come with guides, which are helpful for the tutors, Hill said

“There are some things some of us are definitely not familiar with,” she said. “We have done well so far.”

This project, we developed it because we strongly feel there is a need in the schools because of the district grades in the past,” she said.