Cocky's Reading Express

Eleven USC student leaders traveled the state Monday December 12 through Friday, December 16, promoting literacy. The students took a van, dubbed "Cocky's Reading Express," to elementary schools and read and gave books to nearly 5,000 kindergarten and first-grade students.

USC's student government organized the program in cooperation with the university's School of Library and Information Science's "Children, Libraries, and Literacy" initiative. The initiative, which began in September, strives to eliminate illiteracy across South Carolina. A complete itinerary and list of students, along with their hometowns, are featured on the USC Web site at www.sc.edu.