North Fort Myers Rotary distributes dictionaries to delight of students
Even in this electronic age, students across Lee County were happy to receive their own personal dictionary, said numerous school officials.
The Rotary Club of North Fort Myers does this drive every year, and students, principals and teachers alike find it a valuable feature.
“Having a large vocabulary is critical to a student’s reading success,” said Tropic Isles interim Principal Brandy Macchia. “By the Rotary providing dictionaries to all of our (third grade) students, this provides them personal access to all of the words in the English Language. It allows them to enhance their vocabulary and improve their reading to help them become successful citizens.”
Last week, one of the men who has spearheaded the drive for many years, Jack Hess, presented dictionaries at Tropic Isles Elementary.
Hess was joined by fellow Rotarian Doug Woodward, who both distributed the dictionaries at an assembly.
Students Derric Johnson, Zoe Conway, Anthony Smith, Mary Numa, Ryan Pastman and Matthew Morgan joined Hess and Woodward on stage at a reciting of the Rotary’s 4-Way Test -the test of what we think, say and do.
The children were more than excited to receive their own, personal dictionaries, something, Principal Macchia said, will definitely improve their education.
It is also a gift for them to personally own, and for those that don’t have computer access at home, something that will improve their studies.
Besides Tropic Isles, other Rotarians visited Hancock Creek Elementary (Dick McConville, Dick Marshall and Deena Westberry); J. Colin English Elementary (Ray Hair, Dwight Sedgewick and Ed Schumate) and Dr. Carrie D. Robinson Littleton Elementary School (Doug Page and Danielle Hall).
Hall, president of the local Rotary and owner of Bayshore Physical Therapy, said, “It’s more than a good project. Now over 500 children will have these dictionaries.”
Hall does a blog on the North Fort Myers website – northfortnorthfortmyersneighbor.com to update the community on rotary an health issues.
The Rotary Club of North Fort Myers meets at the Shell Factory s Dolphin Room each Thursday at 7:30 a.m.