Seas the Day Mobile Library makes a splash in OKC
The Seas the Day Mobile Library is like a real life magic school bus!
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - On the sunniest of days, a big, blue bus can often be seen rolling around town.
The Seas the Day Mobile Library is like a real life magic school bus!
Three metro-area sisters are using it to offer a unique learning experience to kids across OKC, with library books, tutoring, and STEAM education to primarily elementary and middle school students across the metro.
"We're extremely [S.T.E.A.M] focused [and] we're community focused," said Carlesia Thompson. "The kids get on the bus [and] they're able to receive tutoring and basically childcare and homework help. We get to do a lot of science experiments, and other things... and they also check out books."
Carlesia said she and her sisters, Teresa Day and Katricia Thompson, drew inspiration for the bus from a similar childhood experience, but it was a stroke of luck that brought the bus to life.
They found the bus on a surplus site and renovated it themselves, with a unique feature: solar panels.
Learn more about the Seas the Day Mobile Library.
"It houses all of our power [and that's how] we’re able to [keep] our computers running," Carlesia continued, adding that the feature allows them to offer heat and air and also running water.
In many ways, every time a kid gets on, the sisters are helping to undo the impact of decades of segregation in Oklahoma, which siloed Black public education and left many historically Black communities behind their counterparts.
Many Oklahoma schools remained segregated through the 1960s, while the effort for permanent integration continued well into the 1970s with a cross-district bus plan.
Today, the sisters are using the bus to help bridge a growing gap they see in their community.
"We need to bridge the learning gap," said Carlesia.
"There are working class parents [who can't help] and there’s a comprehension issue [overall] in the schools, so we want to help the teachers but we also want to help the parents...we want to be that bridge in between," she continued.
Carlesia speaks from experience.
"My son was one of those children who had reading comprehension issues. He could read you a story but it was going to take him forever to get to the point," she said. "The teacher was having that issue and [I as the parent] was having that issue, so our plan was [to find] the middle ground."
To help students like her son who need to build on their comprehension skills, the bus offers software that provides help with word recognition, sound recognition, and strengthens reading skills.
The Seas the Day bus is open to all students, and Leslie Gaucie, property manager at Uptown at Kelley apartments, has seen a big impact in her community.
"Every Monday after school the kids look forward to the bus [and] I have seen huge impact from not only the kids but families," she said. "It’s a good resource to have especially because we don’t have a lot of resources in the area."
The bus makes stops at various locations around the metro each week.
The sisters say they are planning a special STEAM-focused Saturday program that is set to launch later this spring.
Seas the Day relies on grants and donations and the sisters often pay out-of-pocket for expenses.