In response to a "math emergency" at Lebanon High School, the Boys & Girls Club of Lebanon is offering free after school algebra and geometry tutoring.

Jason Yutzie, director of the Boys & Girls Club, said the idea for starting a tutoring program came after he attended the Sept. 10 meeting between parents and LHS staff listened to parents voice concerns about the number of high school students failing algebra classes.

"We're constantly trying to find ways to help out in the community," Yutzie said. "When parents started talking about spending $500 on tutors I said,'Ah-ha, this is something we can do.'"

Initially, tutoring will be on Thursdays after school until the club closes at 6 p.m. Yutzie said the hours and days tutoring is offered will expand if there is enough demand.

Webb Sprague, a Boys & Girls Club volunteer, will head up the tutoring program. Sprague spent the past summer working with high school students training for an academic decathlon. He has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and is currently doing research for a his Ph.D at the University of California at Berkeley.

"I'm an old school math guy," Sprague said. "You work without a calculator and show all your work. A lot of kids think they can't do math. It's a matter of time put in. Math takes a lot of work. It's just like sports, if you want to be good in baseball you practice. You want to be good in math you practice."

To keep a ratio of no more than three students per tutor, the club is prepared to hire more tutors as demand grows, and Udell Engineering has offered to supply tutors as well, Yutzie said.

Students who participate in the tutoring will be offered incentives such as movie passes and pizza parties.

To participate in the tutoring program, students have to be members of the Boys & Girls Club. Membership is $20 a year. Yutzie said no youth is refused membership if they lack the ability to pay.

For more information on using the club tutoring services, contact Kara Enright at

258-7105.