New Allstar Ford to be used for children's literacy program
As students walked to class on Tuesday, they saw Cocky among a sea of young children and his picture on the side of a large bus parked on Greene Street.
The new bus was unveiled for Cocky’s Reading Express, USC’s children’s literacy program.
The bus — an Allstar Ford that seats 22 — was made available by British Petroleum. BP has supported Cocky’s Reading Express in the past with other donations to the program, including children’s books.
The bus has a large pictures of Cocky, the BP logo and “Cocky’s Reading Express” written on it.
Inside, there are television screens and DVD players, which are intended to show videos about literacy training. Wi-Fi access and electrical outlets are also available for traveling students.
Since Cocky’s Reading Express started in 2005, it has donated more than 39,000 books and made almost 240 visits to elementary schools in South Carolina.
Christina Galardi, a fourth-year public relations student, got involved with the program her freshman year. She was a member of Freshman Council at the time, and Student Government, which initially founded the program, was encouraging students to get involved and showed a documentary it had created about the program.
“I don’t think there was a dry eye in the audience when they showed what a big impact the program was having,” Galardi said.
During her sophomore and junior year, Galardi wasn’t as involved with Cocky’s Reading Express because of scheduling conflicts; however, last fall, she went on the fall break trip. During the trip, Cocky’s Reading Express toured seven schools, and Galardi said participants spoke to more than 400 students. During the trip, the volunteers rode in two unmarked vans provided by the university, Galardi said, adding that on the new van everyone can sit together and advisers can focus on preparing students for the event, rather than having to drive.
The amenities the new van offers will allow student organizations to send groups and allow the program to recruit more volunteers, Galardi said.
Emily Learner, a second-year exercise science student, is also involved with the program and thinks the van will enable visiting new schools. Learner designed a nutritional literacy program for Cocky’s Reading Express.
She said they sometimes travel with thousands of books, plus Cocky. And with the new van, they won’t have to be “all cooped up,” Learner said.