The Rotary Club of St. Thomas II (Rotary II) distributed student dictionaries to 3rd graders at the Lockhart Elementary School on Thursday, Oct. 31. Audrey Bowry, Lockhart’s principal, and approximately 104 third graders welcomed six Rotarians, including President Ray Barry, in true Virgin Islands’ style with a resounding “good morning.” The students were polite and quiet throughout the introductions and the opportunity to meet the new officers of the EarlyAct Club at the school.
The EarlyAct members, 5th and 6th graders involved in Rotary, proudly wore their club vests as they helped to distribute student dictionaries – one to each 3rd grader present. The energy in the cafetorium increased when students began to search their dictionaries to look up words and share their findings with their friends and neighbors. Rotarian Erva Denham started the ball rolling with words like “independent” and “implement,” but students quickly began to search their dictionaries for their own words, to share words, and to hug their books as the understanding of ownership occurred to them.
This year marks the eighth annual gifting of a dictionary through the national Dictionary Project, locally participating in cooperation with the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands. Rotary II includes support and improvement of the education experience in the community as a part of its community service efforts, and it works with students and faculty at Lockhart Elementary School and Cancryn Junior High School on a consistent basis.
Rotary II community service efforts are funded by the income from the annual car raffle. Distributing dictionaries to third graders was a heartening experience for the Rotarians involved, and a good reminder of the power and value of the Rotary motto “Service Above Self.”