Gloucester Alumni

By Julio Chuy
Staff writer
Gloucester Daily Times

The Gloucester High School Interact Club completed its third annual Dictionary Project this week by delivering about 275 dictionaries to all third-graders in the five city elementary schools as well as St. Ann's School.

A small group of Interact Club members presented the pupils with the books in each of the third-grade classrooms.

Groups hopped from school to school starting with East Gloucester Elementary, Veterans' Memorial School and Fuller Elementary on Wednesday, and Beeman Memorial and West Parish Elementary schools on Thursday.

The Dictionary Project is part of a national program started in South Carolina several years ago in an effort to improve literacy nationally. The project is sponsored by the Rotary Club.

Among those in attendance at Fuller Elementary School were high school seniors Carly Muniz, 17, Erika Gentile, 17, Heidi Marquis, 18, Jessica Parisi, 17, Lauren Goodenow, 18, Josh Perrine, 18, and junior Molly Griffin, 16.

Interact Club advisors attending the event were Dave Storzer, owner of Cape Ann Photography, and Julie Ann Geary of Classic Cooks Catering.

For Goodenow, Marquis and Perrine, the visit to Fuller brought back memories of when they attended there.

"It was good to come back and help out," said Perrine, who has not been at the school since he left as a fifth-grader.

Storzer said the project has been very helpful in promoting literacy among the district's third-graders and they are looking forward to continuing the effort next year.