Final exams are almost over, but several USC student leaders will be extending the fall semester to promote literacy to South Carolina schoolchildren.
Using the same van President Sorensen travels in on his Bow Tie Bus tours, the students will cross the state from Spartanburg to Charleston and Aiken to Myrtle Beach Dec. 12–16 as part of Cocky’s Reading Express. Along the way, students will stop at elementary schools and public libraries to read and interact with children and emphasize the importance of reading and learning to read.
“When young children see student leaders reading, we believe it will encourage them to do the same,” said USC Student Government treasurer Tommy Preston, who is organizingthe project. “We’ll also be recruiting future USC students. I know it’s a little early now because we’ll be targeting elementary-school kids, but having a child that age seeing students from USC and seeing Cocky might make them want to come to USC some day.”
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| Tommy Preston |
Student Government is sponsoring the tour in collaboration with the School of Library and Information Science to promote the school’s “Children, Libraries, and Literacy” initiative. The initiative, which began in September, strives to eliminate illiteracy across South Carolina by targeting young children, adults, and teachers.
President Sorensen’s office is providing a children’s book about Cocky that the students will donate to each school library. Students have been working with the School of Library and Information Science and the S.C. Center for Children’s Books and Literacy at the S.C. State Library to select other books for the tour. Their focus will be children in grades K–3, but some of the schools are “so excited by the project that they’re turning it into a schoolwide assembly,” Preston said.
At some stops, the students also will speak to teacher cadets in high schools and meet with USC alumni. “It’s a neat way to keep former USC students informed about what we’re doing here now,” Preston said.
The tour will begin in the Midlands and Rock Hill and, on the second day, will travel to the Upstate, where Cocky and the Clemson Tiger will read together. The third day is reserved for Aiken, Lexington, and Richland Counties. The tour will end with a two-day sweep of the north and south coast.
“We’ve received e-mails from more than 100 schools that want us to come next semester,” Preston said. “Before this trip has even taken place, we already have interest for the next tour. Hopefully, we’ll be doing it again, maybe around spring break.”
Although the tour will begin after classes and most exams have ended, Preston had no trouble recruiting volunteers to give their time during the holiday break. “As a matter of fact, the van that we’ll be using seats about 15 people, and we definitely had more students who wanted to participate. They really believe that this project is important not only to USC but to the entire state of South Carolina, helping to eradicate illiteracy.”
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