The Gus Bus brings free academic enrichment to children where they live throughout Harrisonburg. We take our mobile-classroom vehicles to neighborhoods where families might have financial and/or transportation barriers to programs like ours – those that inspire creativity, promote social-emotional growth, and improve educational achievement.

The Gus Bus team helps children do better in school, inspires joy in learning, and cultivates racially and culturally inclusive education through the following programs:

• Neighborhood Stops: We bring hands-on, literacy-based learning on our mobile-classroom vehicles to families where they live. Children can engage in fun, experiential activities, access high-quality children's literature through our mobile library, and learn from trained academic instructors.
• After-School Enrichment: Our team plans and teaches lessons in Literacy, Math, Science, Social-Emotional Learning, Creativity, and more, as well as provides homework help and tutoring onsite at local elementary schools.
• In-Home Tutoring: We recruit and train JMU student volunteers and then pair each with an elementary-school student who needs extra help in academic subjects or with homework assignments.
• Dynamic Summer Day Camps: These feature our signature experiential learning approach and related educational field trips.

The History of the Gus Bus - How We Began

A Community Problem

• In 2003, local educators discover that half of Harrisonburg's pre-school kids were not ready to start Kindergarten.

A Growing Need

• A group of local educators designed a literacy program for daycare kids to help prepare them for school and the Gus Bus hits the road!

More Students Get Involved

• It was clear the community need for enrichment and academic support was large. A second Gus Bus was acquired.

More Programs Launch

• Gus Bus is awarded funds from the federal grant program, 21st Century Community Learning Centers. Administered by the Virginia Department of Education, the grant funds after school programs in partnership with local elementary schools.

What We Do Today

Neighborhood Bus Stops

• Our buses visit over 20 local neighborhoods every week, where students can borrow library books and participate in literacy, math, and science enrichment activities.

After-school Programs

• Monday to Thursday 3:30-6:00, students stay after school to participate in free academic enrichment focused on literacy, math, and science.

In-Home Tutoring

• Students paired one-on-one with James Madison University students volunteering as tutors for two hours per week to provide academic support.

Summer Programs

• Neighborhood Bus Stops continue through summer break. Summer camps, which run Monday-Thursday and are free of charge for families, are week-long experiential deep dives into STEM learning. 

The Impact of the Gus Bus

Promoting a Love for Learning

The Gus Bus forms an atmosphere of fun and friendship at our Neighborhood Stops, Afterschool Programs, and In-Home Tutoring to encourage students to fall in love with learning. For many students, the Gus Bus offers an opportunity to engage with academic skills like reading, writing, and math in a low-stakes environment. There are no “grades” at Gus Bus, and no wrong answers, so students are able to explore subjects and practice skills without fear to develop their natural curiosity and wonder.

Academic Goals for our Students

The Gus Bus currently serves five elementary schools in Harrisonburg City School District. We aim to address specific goals determined in partnership with school principals in order to best serve and support our students’ distinct academic needs. Some of these identified needs include strengthening literacy skills and developing creativity. Our instructors design their lessons to help address these concepts using engaging picture books and interactive activities.

One of our specific goals for all of our students is for them to pass Virginia’s SOL exams. In Harrisonburg, less than 50% of elementary students pass the Reading and Math SOLs, and for ELL students, less than 25% and 30% receive a passing score on the Reading SOL and Math SOL, respectively. For students enrolled in Gus Bus on our Mobile Classroom Vehicles, at our After-School Programs, or by receiving In-Home Tutoring, we hope that they will demonstrate proficiency on the Reading and Math SOLs after attending our program regularly throughout the school year.

Family Impact

The Gus Bus also aims to support the families of the students involved in our programs. Through a partnership with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, the Gus Bus brings shelf-stable foods and fresh produce to our Neighborhood Stops on a regular basis. Despite limitations due to the pandemic, during the 2020-2021 School Year, the Gus Bus helped distribute over 700 shelf-stable food bags and over 250 boxes of fresh produce to families. Also during COVID-19 related school closures, the Gus Bus delivered over 300 books and nearly 600 learning kits for families to read or complete at home with support of Gus Bus instructors leading over GoogleMeet.

In partnership with Skyline Literacy, the Gus Bus offers free adult classes to the family members of our students. These classes cover topics like English, Digital Literacy, and Citizenship Preparation, which provides our families with more opportunities!

The Gus Bus also hosts Family Engagement Nights in October, March, and April in collaboration with community partners to provide resources to parents and guardians. These events focus on giving families helpful resources and strategies to support their children's education. By fostering connections and providing tools for success, these evenings help empower families to play an active role in their children's learning and development.

Gus Bus in the Community