Rotary Club of Donelson-Hermitage takes on Dictionary Project
The Rotary Club of Donelson-Hermitage has donated 3,000 dictionaries to McGavock High School, the largest high school in Tennessee. The dictionaries were purchased through the Dictionary Project just prior to the beginning of the school year. The first day of school was on Friday, August 14, 2009, when Rotary members joined other community leaders, business owners, and other civic organizations, to welcome the students on their first day of school. Rotary members returned on Sunday, August 16, 2009, for freshman orientation. Each student received a dictionary on behalf of the Rotary Club of Donelson-Hermitage. In each dictionary, the Rotarians placed labels stating the 4-Way Test.
President Ralph Bristol spoke to the Class of 2014. President Bristol said, ‘You are beginning one of most important, fun and challenging steps toward something called adulthood. Adulthood can be a scary place because its full of responsibilities, but it can be less scary and much more rewarding and fun depending on what you do during the next four years. The best thing you can do to make adulthood less scary and more fun is to learn as much as you can while you are here. To help you with that, the Rotary Club of Donelson-Hermitage wants you to have this Dictionary, designed especially for students, to help you build one of the most important tools you can have to succeed in the world you will find after high school. That tool is a good communication skill. You will be more eager to communicate effectively if you have a good vocabulary.’
Ralph spoke about the various opportunities through Rotary, such as RYLA, Youth Exchange, scholarships, INTERACT, etc. Mary Jones, the current club Secretary, recited the 4-Way Test and explained how they could use this test as their ‘ethical compass’ in their decision making process. Ralph ended with, ‘We are at your service at the Rotary Club of Donelson-Hermitage and we have confidence that there are many great future Rotarians in this audience today. Rotary believes in YOUTH and Rotary believes in YOU!’
The remaining dictionaries will be distributed on Wednesday, August 19, 2009, during their advisory class. Mr. Robbin Wall, Executive Principal at McGavock High School has expressed his gratitude for the gift of the dictionaries, and has welcomed Rotary with open arms into the school. The club is very excited about the future opportunities with the McGavock High School and is glad to have ‘The Future is in Your Hands’ as this year’s Rotary theme.
