Dictionary Donation at Hunters Bend

Published March 27, 2008

Third graders at Hunters Bend Elementary School have a new tool to help them in class. On March 12, members of the Franklin Breakfast Rotary delivered brand-new dictionaries to the school. During the presentation, each third grade student was given his or her very own dictionary. "We chose the third grade because this is the grade where teachers start asking students to structure sentences and look up words," said Rotary President Jerome Bannister. "Studies show the students will likely keep the dictionaries for the next six or seven years."

The Rotarians worked with the school district to determine which type of dictionary they would distribute. "The school district looked at several dictionaries and chose this one," said Bannister. "The reason they chose it is because it's not only a dictionary, but the back part of it is an encyclopedia about world geography and the Declaration of Independence."

The Franklin Breakfast Rotary began delivering the dictionaries to students last year. So far, they have distributed more than 1,100 dictionaries to students in both Williamson County Schools and the Franklin Special School District. Rotarian Sharon Stewart says she has been amazed by the kind of response they've seen from the students. "There's just no sensation like having a kid look up to you and say thank you and really mean it," said Stewart.

Bannister agrees. He says it's all worth it when you learn how much it means to the kids. "We have gotten letters and cards from some of the kids who say, 'This is the first book I have ever been able to write my name in'," said Bannister.