Shortly before Thanksgiving this year, members of the Berkeley Heights Rotary Club gave every third-grader in our township’s three elementary schools a Student Dictionary. This is the tenth consecutive year the Rotary Club has done this, which means that the very first recipients are now in college or pursuing post high school careers. The one question club members ask that gets the most hands in the air and accompanying smiles is, “How many of you students have an older brother or sister who’s told you what’s going to happen this morning?” And the most popular item the students want to find right away is “the longest word in the English Language”–it’s 1,909 letters long, so look it up (we can’t print it here because it would make this article way too long!). The books the Rotary Club gives each student are more than just “dictionaries.” In addition to their 35,000 words and definitions, their 540 pages also include weights and measures, a periodic table of the elements, ASL and Braille, the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution, information about each of the 50 U.S. states, and much, much more.
For more information about the Berkeley Heights Rotary Club visit BHRotary.com or call 908-447-6290. The club holds open lunch meetings on the second and fourth Wednesdays each month at The Chimney Rock Inn, 342 Valley Road in Gillette. Visitors and visiting Rotarians are always welcome.
(above) Pam Steiner, Linda Sausville, and students looking up our U.S. Presidents.
(above l-r) Students and Pam Steiner, Principal Jonathan Morisseau, Linda Sausville, Tiffany Escott, and Alan Feigenbaum.
(above) Students searching for longest word.
