USC, mascot Cocky get bus for reading program

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The University of South Carolina and its mascot are celebrating a new set of wheels to help the school’s statewide reading and literacy program.

University officials announced Tuesday that oil company BP donated a custom-made bus for the effort known as Cocky’s Reading Express.

The program is organized by the School of Library and Information Science and USC’s student government. Student volunteers help Cocky visit elementary schools and public libraries across the state.

University officials say that, since 2005, Cocky has given books to about 40,000 disadvantaged children, who promise Cocky they will read at home.

The new bus is custom-designed and seats 22. It has DVD players and Wi-Fi to train the volunteers and plenty of storage space to carry the hundreds of books they take on each trip.