The Power of the Word

The Dictionary Project, a non-profit national organization, provides public and private school students their own personal dictionary for use at their home or at school.
Last week, the Stuttgart Women`s Club, Stuttgart Junior Women`s Club and Arkansas County Bank were the local sponsors of the Dictionary Project in Stuttgart and provided the dictionaries to third grade students in the Stuttgart Schools.

`We have participated in this project since 2002,` Phillip Edwards, vice president of Arkansas County Bank, said. `This is a national project, and we enjoy doing it each year.`

Edwards said reading is the most important skill of all because it is the starting point for all the economic and social opportunities this world has to offer.

`Educators see third grade as the dividing line between learning to read and reading to learn,` Edwards said. `Each year we watch this project grow so children can enjoy the benefits of their own personal dictionary.`

`This dictionary project is done each year by the two women`s clubs and Arkansas County Bank is a wonderful project, not only for the teachers and parents but for the students themselves,` Dr. Laura Bednar, Superintendent of Stuttgart Public Schools, said.`This is a great project and an appreciative project. The third graders love the dictionaries.`

Third grade students at Park Avenue Elementary School, Holy Rosary Catholic School, St. Johns Lutheran School and Grand Prairie Evangelical Methodist School received their own personal dictionaries.

2,330,715 dictionaries were given to students in 2007 as a gift from people who live in cities and towns across the United States.