For the second consecutive year, the Rotary Club of Elkins is in the process of presenting every third grader in Randolph County a special dictionary.  In addition to the regular sections contained in a collegiate volume, the one given by Rotary contains several special sections including the Brail Alphabet, sign language, a history of the Presidents of the United States, the longest word in the English language and more.

Rotary President Pat Schumann and Vice President Wayne Sheets presented third graders at Midland Elementary and Beverly Elementary their copy of the dictionary on Nov. 21.  The youngsters were excited over their new study reference, especially when asked to look at the longest word in the English language.  They were hard pressed to believe that such a word existed at all and that it could be pronounced. 

Teachers at each school agreed that the dictionary was a welcomed learning tool for each of the children.  Dianna Vannoy, at Midland Elementary, talked about how much her last year’s class enjoyed their dictionary.  “I’m sure the students this year will get as much learning pleasure from their new dictionary as they did last year.  This is a great program that Rotary has.  I hope it will continue for many years to come,” Vannoy said.

The distribution of the dictionaries is Elkins Rotary Club’s way of helping educators battle illiteracy and hope the dictionaries will help foster keener interests in youngsters for learning.