WMBD/WYZZ TV - BLOOMINGTON  --  As the nation's top ranked Division 3 team, you might expect to find the Illinois Wesleyan women on the basketball court.  But the Titans also make an "extra effort" to spend time in the classroom - and not just on their campus.

"We go into separate groups and my favorite game to play with them is multiplication baseball," said Colene Hoose third grader Olivia Peters.  "They help us with reading."

Twice a month, the Titans visit Christa Hoder's third grade class to work with the students. The time isn't mandatory but most of the players say they wouldn't miss it.

"You can just see that it makes a difference in their day," said IWU senior guard Claire Sheehan.  "Taking an hour out of our day to come here and be with them - it means a lot to them and to us."

"It really humbles us to know the little kids at grammar school are excited to see us and excited to get our help," said junior center Christina Solari.  "It's cool to be able to give back to the community that Wesleyan is involved in."

Last month the support the Titans provide was repaid.. when the third graders took a class trip to the Shirk Center to watch a game.

"We got to go and watch them play," said Peters.  "We made posters and it was a lot of fun."

"It's like wow, they're really playing on the court," added classmate Austin Ellison.  "It's the first time seeing them so it's pretty cool."

The Titans are used to higher level classwork but some, like Solari, have found benefits in something as elementary as discovering the main point of a paragraph.

"I'm studying for the LSAT right now, and they're doing main point and main ideas..  I'm like, this would've been helpful if I had done this when I was little.. now I'd be really good at it."