New SLC Rotary Happenings

A Smile is Worth 100 Thousand Words For Datamark’s Dictionary Project Volunteers.

Datamark recognizes employees Susan Patti, Ryan Cole, Susie Johansen, Ryan Luke, Teresa Tackman and Tamara Brown for helping to spread the word to elementary school students during the annual Dictionary Project campaign, sponsored by the Rotary Club.

Pam Strom, a member of the Rotary Club #24 Education Committee, offered Datamark’s services to distribute the books for the annual Dictionary Project. These good-hearted employees offered their time to help deliver dictionaries to 630 wide-eyed 3rd graders at six local elementary schools.

“The kids ate it up,” said Ryan Luke. “They loved that they were able to keep their dictionaries. I enjoyed that even the students who spoke little English joined in and could find the words. It united a class and they had so much fun doing it. Smiles all around, I’d do it again just to hang out with the kids again!”

Ryan Cole, who delivered 74 dictionaries to three different 3rd grade classrooms said, “I presented the dictionaries to the students and helped them learn how to use them. As a group, we looked up a few words so they would understand how a dictionary works. I liked helping the students learn more about the world of words and definitions. It was great to see the student’s excitement for the dictionaries that we gave them.”

The Dictionary Project is a nationwide program that started in 1992. Its goal is to improve children’s reading ability and comprehension by providing dictionaries to every 3rd grade student. Over the last 10 years, clubs and organizations have donated dictionaries to over 7.8 million children across the United States.

“We’re very appreciative to the local Rotary Club and Datamark,” said Victoria Thomas, Magna Elementary School Principal. “These dictionaries are a wonderful tool to help students improve their reading skills.”

Children smiled as they accepted their new books and began thumbing through the pages. “I like the books”, said Isabelle, a student at Magna Elementary. “It can help us understand words.” And another inquisitive boy elicited giggles when he asked, “are these word dictionaries?”

Here’s a word for our six volunteers to look up: magnanimous. This word certainly describes them.