Rotary Club of Sequim members had the pleasure of gifting more than 220 dictionaries to all fourth-grade students in the Sequim School District in February.

This was the 18th anniversary of the Harry Hughes Memorial Dictionary Project, so named because former President Harry Hughes presented this idea to the club in the year 2000, which was enthusiastically agreed to.

Club members and spouses Mary Hadley, Pat Zane, Vicky Blakesley, Kurt Turner, Lang Hadley, Bob Macaulay, Susan Sorensen and Ed Ebling prepared the dictionaries on Monday, Feb. 26, by personalizing each dictionary with the student’s name and inserting a letter to the children and their families from President Ed Ebling.

Club members arrived at the beginning of the school day at Greywolf and Helen Haller Elementary schools the following day, Feb. 27. Teachers welcomed the Rotarians into their classrooms and the children were individually presented with their personalized hard-bound dictionary.

Rotarians took a few minutes to tell the children that Rotarians are local business people who have come together to “Do Good in the World” which includes both our local community and internationally. Many had the children look up the word Rotary in their dictionaries and discuss the various definitions.

The American Heritage Children’s Dictionary is a large hard-bound book filled with colorful pictures and maps. The book contains a dictionary of words children use today as well as a thesaurus and maps of the world.

One student said, “I’m going to keep mine forever.”

Club members will visit both Five Acre and Mountain View School soon to gift their fourth-grade students with their personalized dictionaries.