Oct. 12, 2006 — Jenae Stokes, a third grader at Yvonne E. Milliner Bowsky Elementary School, leafed through a brand new dictionary Thursday in pursuit of the word, respect. "I found it," she said after a few minutes, waving her hand high in the air. Her classmates, all engaged in the same task, groaned, each hoping to have been the first one to find the word and read the meaning aloud.
Stokes smiled and hugged the dictionary to her chest.
The dictionaries, distributed Thursday by representatives from the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands and the East End Lions Club, are meant to help the students learn both at school and at home.
According to Dee Baecher-Brown, CFVI's president, dictionaries have been distributed to all third graders throughout the territory, including those in private and parochial schools.
This is the fourth consecutive year that CFVI has conducted the initiative, which is financed through one of the foundation's many funds. "The Dictionary Project Fund at CFVI was set up a few years ago by Gretta Moorhead, and she's led the charge in getting all the money together to purchase the dictionaries we distribute," Baecher-Brown said.
Over the past four years, more than 5,000 dictionaries have been distributed. "This year, we're visiting 33 schools," Moorhead said. "And we're passing out about 1,700 dictionaries."
"It's really wonderful," Angela Hodge, a third-grade teacher at Bowsky Elementary said. "Were reading some bigger books this year, and the students are always asking me for dictionaries so they can look up the words. This will really help them out a lot."
During the presentation Wednesday, students took part in several exercises conducted by members of the St. Thomas East End Lions Club. "Dictionaries are a vital part of reading and are essential for children," Shirley Quetel- Hendricks, the organization's secretary, said to a group of about 15 students. "And we hope you use them as much as you can."
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