Education is key to success, and a local school district employee is going the extra mile to help spread a more in-depth education to students who need a little extra specialized help.

River City Enrichment Center is a new learning facility in Vicksburg that offers tutoring and test preparation to students of all ages. Josh Yeager, coordinator of special projects for the Vicksburg Warren School District, is spearheading this new educational center.

“There was a need, I’ve seen, in the school district for it,” Yeager said. “We’ve got it started, and we’ve seen some success with it thus far.”

The center opened Oct. 15, and it is already set to grow at the beginning of 2017. A new computer lab with 15 computers is scheduled to open in January. Then in February the center will become a certified testing facility through Educational Testing Services.

“We can do national assessments there at the center so people don’t have to drive to Jackson for their teaching certification, GRE or ACT,” Yeager said.

Tutoring services are broken up into elementary, secondary and postsecondary categories, and every staff member is a certified teacher, he said.

“It is an opportunity for elementary, secondary and even collegiate students to get that extra resource and help they need to be successful,” Yeager said.

In elementary, the younger students can work on reading, writing, math, science and prepare for the Reading Gate Assessment. Similarly, for the older grade school children, the center offers help in English, history, math, biology, reading and preparation for MAP/SATP and all state assessments.

“We’ve got the whole curriculum that we do for preparation for the state assessments,” Yeager said. “We all (the staff) have master level or higher degrees in those areas.”

Then for postsecondary, or after high school, students can study for core college courses and also prepare for ACT and SAT testing with help from Alcorn State University. Once the center is testing certified, preparation courses for the Praxis and GRE will become available.

“We do private one-on-one training at the enrichment center, but we also hold workshops there at the Alcorn State branch as well,” Yeager said.

The center can accept up to 30 students total. Currently, Yeager is working on developing an after school program designed to last the duration of a semester. The program is open to eight children ages 6 to 15 and will be four hours a day, 2:30 to 6:30 p.m., five days a week, Monday through Friday.

“That’s going to be a more one-on-one, small group study session at varying levels,” Yeager said.

The center is located at 3429A Halls Ferry Road. For more information, call 601-826-0848.

“This is for the community of Vicksburg. We want our kids to be highly successful so they go on to college and be productive citizens,” Yeager said.