Hickory Kiwanis Members Present Dictionaries to Third-Graders

HICKORY, N.C. — Every student attending the third grade at Hickory Public Schools will receive the gift of a personal dictionary. This annual donation campaign, started locally in 2005, provides new dictionaries to children while encouraging them to learn new words so that they may enhance their use of the English language. The dictionary project was created in 1955 in South Carolina. Today, the Kiwanis clubs of North Carolina and South Carolina raise funds to place dictionaries in the hands of all children. In some cases, the dictionaries are the only personal book owned by students. Members from the Hickory Kiwanis including Bruce Blackburn, secretary, and Helen Devlin, past president, recently shared a personal distribution with the students at Viewmont Elementary School. HPS superintendent Walter Hart and Viewmont principal Jeff Hodakowski celebrated with the students as they received their new dictionaries. “We are so grateful that the Kiwanis Club sponsors this program,” said Hodakowski. “Students were very excited to receive their personal dictionary.”