Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, Indiana

All third grade students in Bartholomew County, including homeschooled students, received a dictionary this year, thanks to funding provided by the Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, organizational support from the IUPUC Center for Teaching and Learning, and volunteers from BARTA (Bartholomew Retired Teachers Association) who presented the dictionaries to the students. BARTA members often go to their former schools and are rewarded by their visit. The project began in 2004 when Lyn Morgan, who worked at the Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, learned about The Dictionary Project. Since starting the program, the Heritage Fund has provided over 10,400 dictionaries to area students. They reported, “While adults use their phones and computers for quick reference tools, students in third grade do not always have that access or the skill level required. Students in upper grades are often asked if they know where their little yellow dictionaries are and amazingly many explain they have shared with younger siblings and remember how excited they were to receive the books.” Hayleigh, a third-grade student at Rockcreek Elementary had this to say about her new dictionary. “Thank you for the new dictionary. I really like the dictionary. I use it a lot to do my work and to research a lot. It helps me do incredible things.”