By Joyell Nevins

La Mesa Rotary understands the power of words and the power of reading. And they want to make sure La Mesa and now Lemon Grove third graders understand that power too.

That’s why every third grader in the La Mesa, Spring Valley and Lemon Grove district received their own Webster’s New English Dictionary this month – approximately 1,750 kids. The dictionaries were purchased by the Rotary through the SoCal Dictionary Project (socaldp.org) and are 320 pages long, so they fit easily in a backpack.

Why a book dictionary when schools have online access? According to the Rotary’s project notes, “it matters a great deal.” Educators have told them online dictionaries are better suited for adults; elementary students benefit far more when they learn to use an actual dictionary book.

The book doesn’t ‘pop up’ the word or fix the spelling for the student like an online site would. The student has to consider the spelling and word breakdown to locate the word. Plus, students will often find new words on their way to look up the original one.

“It gets them into the mindset on how to do things,” explained Rotarian Bonnie Welch, who runs a karate school in La Mesa.

Welch was one of more than 17 Rotarians who volunteered to hand deliver these books to the classrooms.

“It’s really neat to be able to share my love of language with them,” Rotarian and delivery volunteer Becki Schwartz said. Schwartz works as a physical therapist.

The front of each dictionary contains a sticker with the Rotary’s Four-Way test. The Four-Way test is a set of principles the Rotaries live and do business by, asking themselves four questions before any decision or behavior:

Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

When the dictionaries are presented to the students, they review these four questions together with the Rotarian.

“It was cool to be able to share what Rotary is and what we do,” Schwartz said. “Rotary principles fall in line with their school rules and being good citizens of their community and their world.”

Welch added, “These are principles that Rotary lives under, but everybody should think about.”

Now, not all students are overjoyed about a dictionary. But they do act like Santa has come to town when they find out that that book belongs to them — permanently. On the sticker in the front is also special space for the student to put their own name, and at the end of the year they get to take the book home for good.

“For some of these students [in some schools a large majority], this is the first book they own,” Welch said.

The Rotary project has been ongoing for several years now, so many of the current third graders have older siblings with their own dictionaries — continuing the generation of reading.

And that is beneficial to all concerned.

Projects like this and the upcoming “Bikes for Kids” are funded by the La Mesa Rotary Foundation. The Foundation welcomes donations, which can be given at lamesarotary.org.

—Freelance writer Joyell Nevins can be reached at [email protected]. You can also follow her blog Small World, Big God at swblog.wordpress.com.