About Us - Reading Explorers

Origin of Planet Koob

Across the Milky Way, just east of the North Star, there is a tiny but mighty planet: Planet Koob, where everyone loves to read.

One day on Planet Koob, a tiny turtle was exploring with his brothers and sisters. They were on a reading adventure, following signs taking them to all kinds of fun places on the planet. But the turtle, being the youngest of the group, hadn’t learned to read. So, when a beautiful butterfly caught his eye, the tiny turtle didn’t notice that his brothers and sisters had moved on to the next sign, and before he knew it, the turtle didn’t know where they were. Lost and alone, the tiny turtle sat down to cry.

The turtle heard a sniffing sound behind him. It was Sparky, Planet Koob’s awesome dog.

“What’s wrong little turtle?” asked Sparky.

The turtle looked at him and sadly replied, “I’m lost.”

“That’s too bad,” said Sparky “What’s your name?”

"I don’t know my name,” cried the tiny turtle.

“I’ll call you Myrtle; Myrtle the Turtle,” declared Sparky. “How did you get lost?”

“I think I got lost because I don’t know how to read,” sighed Myrtle the Turtle.

“That’s not right,” said Sparky. “Everyone on Planet Koob knows how to read. Did you know Koob is book spelled backwards? In fact, Planet Koob is built of books.”

“What’s a book?” asked Myrtle the Turtle.

Shocked, Sparky jumped up and grabbed Myrtle by the shell, “This can’t wait! Come with me, Myrtle, and I’ll take you to my friend, E2R2, the Extraordinary Early Reading Robot!”

Sparky the Dog and Myrtle the Turtle raced away to the library in Koob Square, where E2R2 lived.

E2R2 met them at the door. “Come in! Come in! Let me teach you how to read because, on Planet Koob, everyone loves to read!”

E2R2 and Sparky the Dog helped Myrtle the Turtle learn to read and, in no time at all, the three became best friends, going on their own reading adventures.

It wasn’t long before they decided to start Planet Koob’s Reading Explorers to share their love of reading with people on other planets. Each summer, they spend time on Planet Earth at the Edwards Summer Reading Camp to teach the Reading Explorers how to read, learn and become better friends - just like they are.

About Edwards Elementary School

Reading Explorers are students enrolled in first, second or third grade at Edwards Elementary. Edwards, located in northeast Oklahoma City and serving predominately low-income, African American students, is a school where only 14 percent of third-grade students and zero percent of fourth-grade students met their mid-year reading benchmark goals in the (2010-2011) school year. Since the implementation of the program, 50% of the third graders met their reading benchmark goals in 2013. Just a year later, in 2014, 74% of the third-graders met their reading benchmark goals.

Annual Report Card

Sandino L. Thompson, Director of Urban Services

Sandino L. Thompson Raised in the area, Sandino Thompson has a passion for improving the quality of life in Northeast Oklahoma City. He is responsible for neighborhood-based services such as revitalization efforts, community engagement, public education, employment services, health and other environmental components affecting the success of children. Additionally, Mr. Thompson oversees the development of social entrepreneurial partnerships and the management of programs that address these needs. He has more than 10 years of experience managing large-scale projects including multi-million dollar construction developments and his own information technology consulting firm, Cowboy Creation. He is a member of The Associated General Contractors, Associated Building Contractors Construction Management Society, Society of Black Engineers, Technologists and Architects, and the U.S. Green Building Council. He received a bachelor’s degree in Construction Management Engineering Technology with a minor in Political Science from Oklahoma State University.

Chabria Easter, Program Specialist

Keidra Massenburge Chabria Easter has the heart and drive for working with people and brings her social work background to the team. Viewing people from a holistic perspective and understanding that every experience is different, unique, and not to be treated the same, she finds herself serving the community of the Northeast Oklahoma City. As a transplant from Nebraska a decade ago, she has worked with children of all ages by serving them with behavioral and mental health services and working with their parents to teach them relationship education skills to foster strong and healthy families. Managing and training people comes with familiarity to Mrs. Easter due to her years of experience as a supervisor for several years. In her current role, Mrs. Easter oversees the day to day tasks of the program, develops and implements lesson plans and activities for volunteers as well as conducts ongoing research to help children succeed. Chabria has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Sociology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is currently in pursuit of a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the distance education program at the University of North Dakota.

Taylor Doe, Community Relations Representative, SandRidge Energy

Taylor Doe is an employee of SandRidge Energy who divides his time between the Community Outreach and Human Relations departments. He has been instrumental in developing activities related to character education for the Reading Explorers Summer Camp. Mr. Doe is the Founder and Director of R.E.A.C.H. Ministries, an organization designed to get students excited to serve in the community. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Human Relations.

Crystal Buggs, Senior Project Specialist

Crystal Buggs supports the planning, development and execution of various projects focused on education reform, behavioral and mental health, workforce development job training and college access, character development, relationship education, and neighborhood and economic revitalization. She also provides technical assistance to multiple higher education and workforce training sites across the United States. Ms. Buggs received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from the University of Oklahoma, with a concurrent minor in Legal Studies emphasizing Contract and Commercial Law.

About Our Partners

It’s My Community Initiative (IMCI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Oklahoma City, with a mission of developing and expanding existing efforts to strengthen communities by building strong, healthy families. IMCI supports family and community services by providing the expanded capacity needed to serve more people and more diverse groups in a variety of ways. IMCI is currently focused on partnering with organizations and citizens in northeast Oklahoma City (NEOKC).

SandRidge Energy is a diversified oil and natural gas company with the ability to selectively drill for oil or gas as circumstances dictate. It is a company with a mix of low-risk oil and gas assets that will enable it to drill and create value within a broad spectrum of economic circumstances. SandRidge is comprised of employees who value integrity and community. They are dedicated to harvesting and supplying this country’s natural resources to the U.S. market in a safe, quick and cost-effective manner. In the process, the company protects the environment, recognizes and rewards the individual efforts of those who work for it, and enriches the communities where its employees live and work.

Public Strategies is committed to helping organizations and individuals reach their full potential while maximizing their impact on the public good. Their clients represent the impact Public Strategies has had on an array of fields, including education, business, faith, criminal justice, child welfare and human services. Established in 1990, Public Strategies began as a public relations and event planning firm with only two staff members and a client base that included the Oklahoma City Cavalry professional basketball team. In a matter of years, Public Strategies became the only firm in the United States to develop and maintain a state-run healthy marriage initiative, which has since become the longest-running and most in-depth endeavor of its kind in the country. Public Strategies has grown into a culturally and professionally diverse firm with 150 staff members, with offices in Oklahoma, Colorado and Washington, D.C. The company has a solid success record of client-centered project management and strategic planning services for a variety of clients in the public and private sectors.

Inasmuch Foundation’s grant-making emphasizes education, health, human services and community enhancement. They are dedicated to the betterment of people, communities and the neighborhoods in which we live. From education and health, to the arts and the environment, the foundation assists charitable and educational organizations in achieving their goals. Inasmuch’s philanthropy is intended to enrich and enhance the quality of lives it touches; to lessen suffering whenever possible, and to strengthen and support institutions and organizations in ways that benefit communities and the individuals served.

It’s My Community Initiative is a member of the OKC Metro Literacy Coalition. The mission of the Coalition is to lead a collaboration of literacy providers and supporters to strengthen services and present a united voice in Metropolitan Oklahoma City.

About Our Collaborating Organizations

Oklahoma City Public Schools partnered with the Edwards Summer Reading Explorers camp by helping us to deploy a quality assessment and offering us access to host the camp at Edwards Elementary. Daily, Principal Ronda Hamilton and the other District staff members make a difference in our success in all kinds of ways. Their belief in the children of Edwards Elementary is a model for anyone working in an inner-city school. Special thanks to Board Chair Angela Monson, Superintendent Karl Springer, Deputy Superintendent Sandra Park, and Board Member Ruth Veales for their continued support of our commitment to Douglass Middle/High and the five feeder elementary schools. We are proud to work alongside them to try to create transformational change in our Promise Neighborhood of northeast Oklahoma City.

Edwards Elementary became a Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma summer feeding site so that we could have lunch and a snack for every Reading Explorer each day during the summer camp, as well as provide food to the broader community of children at this location. This work is so critical to helping children enter classrooms not hungry and ready to learn. We are proud to be your partner in this important work.