PARMA, MI -- After every school day at Western Middle School, students can stay for an extra hour to meet with players from the Jackson College softball team for tutoring.

According to Anne Starr, a counselor at Western, tutoring can be expensive and difficult to plan and work around for parents. The after school program requires no payment and all parents have to do is pick students up an hour later than normal.

the program helps younger students learn how to ask for help, which helps them mature, Starr said.

Twenty five middle school students are involved in the program, and four softball players show up to each study session.

Tutoring is based on individual needs and individual assignments, so it's easy for students to come in with questions about a specific concept or problem, Starr said.

Some students come to work independently in the quiet of the tutoring room, and only ask for help if they get stuck.

"I realized I like working with younger kids," said Kelsi Omey, a Jackson College freshman and softball player.

Most of Omey's family works in education, and she said she's now considering education as a career if her plan to go into marketing doesn't work out.

"Tutoring helps me relate to younger people, " she said.

Jamie Vandenburgh, is a seventh-grade science teacher at Western and Jackson College softball coach. She and Starr help the program run smoothly.

"It gives them the opportunity to be leaders," Vandenburgh said about her players involved in tutoring.