WEM third graders filed into the auditorium on Tuesday, October 21 for a very special event. The excitement and anticipation was seen on all faces. The students have been learning a lot over the last few years, and one of those important lessons is reading. From Kindergarten to third grade students are learning to read, but beginninig in third grade students are reading to learn. This is an important milestone for students, and the Waterville Lions Club helps to mark the occasion.

The Waterville Lions Club has been participating in the Dictionary Project for six years. The Dictionary Project is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to assist all students in completing the school year as good writers, active readers, and creative thinkers by providing students with their own personal dictionaries. The organization has given away over 9,271,931 dictionaries, and for the last six years WEM third graders have made up a portion of that number.

This year Larry and Marlys Meskan, Waterville Lions Club members, gave sixty WEM students dictionaries. Marlys Meskan said, `I love to see the expressions on the kids` faces when they get their own dictionary. The gratitude was also expressed verbally as the students recieved their gift. `I want to say that I am impresed that each one of you said, `thank you,` as you were handed the dictionary,` stated Larry Meskan.

Principal Randy Mediger was also on hand to begin the special occasion. WEM is one of the few shcools to present the gift in an official setting. Mediger stated, `It is important to bring the students togetther and teach them to be a good audience.` A good and appreciative audience is exactly what the Lions Club recieved, and a new world of words is what WEM students recieved.