HUNTLEY — There was a flurry of activity in the Community Room at a local bank on a recent Tuesday as dozens of Rotary Club members gathered to unpack and prepare nearly 800 paperback dictionaries to be distributed in district schools throughout the city.
It’s the fifth year for Huntley’s Dictionary Project, an effort by the Huntley Rotary club to get dictionaries into the hands of every third-grader in the village.
The club spent the first part of the year raising money to buy the dictionaries. After sorting the books and making sure each one had a page inside identifying the club as the donor; the rotarians will visit classrooms around the city and give the dictionaries away.
“Third grade is when students start moving from learning to read to reading to learn,” said Jim Robinson, a Rotary Club member and project volunteer.
“The book we give away is a dictionary and gazetteer [a geographical reference book]. It is much more than a dictionary. It includes the presidents, the Constitution, flags, the continents, the planets, the world’s largest word, and even sign language. All these topics really capture students’ interest.”
The longest word, according to the 524-page “A Student’s Dictionary” distributed by the club, is an unpronounceable medical term with 1,909 characters.
Rotary members say the project is fun and moving because the students are so appreciative of the gift. The club started the project shortly after they were organized six years ago. Today the dictionary is much anticipated in local area schools.
For more information about Huntley Rotary and how to get involved in local community and international projects, contact President Scott Mitchell at 847-456-3501.
