x
Breaking News
More () »

Republican Friends gives dictionaries to every Bryan ISD third-grader

Republican Friends will give every Bryan ISD third-grader a brand-new dictionary.

Republican Friends will give every Bryan ISD third-grader a brand-new dictionary, beefed-up with the additions of maps, the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, biographies of every U.S. president and even the longest word in the English Language (Trivia note: it’s a whopping 1,909 letters).

This is the sixth year Republican Friends has distributed dictionaries to Bryan ISD Schools. The $5,000 cost of the project was raised from around 80 donors across the Bryan-College Station area. Republican Friends, a PAC, raised the funds and passed out the dictionaries.

Mary Sue Ribardo will oversee the distribution of 1,500 books at 14 Bryan ISD schools and five private schools.

“It’s just a wonderful wonderful asset for those young people to have,” Ribardo. “They can use this book for the rest of their lives.”

Republican Friends purchased the dictionaries from the 'Dictionary Project', s dictionary giveaway program that began in 1992 in Savannah, Georgia. The project has since spread to third grade classrooms across the nation.

Over the course of three days, the dictionaries are personally distributed to each Bryan ISD third-grade classroom by local elected officials, members of the Republican Party and volunteers.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and Brazos County District Clerk Marc Hamlin kicked off the dictionary giveaway Monday.

“You can see the light in their eyes when they know that this is not just about a dictionary,” Bush said. “This is about really the formation of an education that will lead to a lifelong track record of success.”

Hamlin, who has passed out the dictionaries for several years, agreed.

“These dictionaries are helping these kids be able to communicate with people and hopefully be able to be good stewards of the community,” Hamlin said.

Volunteers spend time in each classroom demonstrating to the third-graders the wealth of knowledge contained in each book and how to access it.

“It’s a joy to know that we’re putting a book in a child’s hand,” Ribardo said. “Not a tablet where you’re pushing the buttons but the old thrill of the printed word. We’re living in an age where books have become uncommon.”

Before You Leave, Check This Out