Mayor Brown assisting in dictionary distribution

Columbus Mayor Kristen Brown will help local third-grade students expand their vocabularies Wednesday when she helps hand out dictionaries as part of the annual Dictionary Project.

The project provides dictionaries to every third grader in Bartholomew County, including students in public and private schools and home-school students. Each year, the books are purchased by Heritage Fund – the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County and distributed by the Bartholomew County Retired Teachers Association with the support of the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Mayor Brown, who serves on the Heritage Fund Board of Directors, will deliver dictionaries at 9 a.m. to students in Mrs. Jodi Snider’s classroom at Schmitt Elementary School.

"These students are the future of our community, and we know students who do not have solid reading skills by the end of the third grade rarely catch up to their peers," Mayor Brown said. "With their own dictionaries, students will have one more tool at all times to expand their vocabularies and their minds. I am honored that I can deliver these dictionaries and help spread knowledge to our young community members."

This is the ninth year for The Dictionary Project in Bartholomew County. More than 13,000 dictionaries have been distributed over the years.