DICTIONARY MAN BESTOWS LIFETIME GIFT TO DISTRICT 200 THIRD GRADERS

Ted Utchen, a long-time Wheaton resident, is affectionately known by District 200 third-graders as "The Dictionary Man", a title Utchen humbly accepts after donating and personally delivering dictionaries to 1,236 third-grade students in the District's thirteen elementary schools.

It all began in March of 2002, when he read a Wall Street Journal article about Mary French, South Carolina's "Dictionary Lady" and founder of The Dictionary Project, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to provide third-grade students in public schools with their own dictionary.

Ted Utchen hands a "Webster's Classic Reference Library Dictionary" to Mikaela Breese, a student in Taryn Ward's third-grade class at Sandburg Elementary School in Wheaton. Mikaela later commented, "I'm reading this really great book, but it has a lot of words I don't understand. So I'm using my new dictionary to look them up."

"The article caught my eye," said Utchen, "and I said to myself, 'This is something very worthwhile. Wouldn't it be great if I could do this for District 200 schools?'"

"Correct spelling and proper word usage have always been a cause of mine," said Utchen, a lawyer whose two children were educated in the District's schools. "I thought let's get these kids started early using the dictionary often, and it will stand them in good stead the rest of their lives."

"I think effective communication is a solution to so many of our problems, and you communicate with words. To the extent we can get these young kids using dictionaries early and encourage them to become more familiar with words, the better communicators they will be," said Utchen.

With that in mind, Utchen decided this would be his cause, and he arranged to purchase the dictionaries through Mary French's Dictionary Project. During a two-week period in March, with the approval of delighted District 200 administrators, he single-handedly purchased and delivered a dictionary to each third-grader as he visited and spoke to the District's 52 third-grade classes.

"I was so pleased to see the reactions of the students. They asked a lot of good questions," said Utchen. "One boy said he had a brother in first grade, and did that mean he would have to pass on his dictionary to his brother when he got to third grade? I said, 'No, you keep yours, and I will make sure your brother gets his own dictionary when he reaches third grade.' So it looks like I will be doing this for a while."

Utchen added that McGraw-Hill supplies Mary French's Dictionary Project with its $3.49 pocket dictionary for $1.12, and that is a very reasonable price which makes such a project feasible for those wishing to sponsor a program in their respective districts.

Taryn Ward, a third-grade teacher at Sandburg Elementary School in Wheaton, said, "I thought it was great that someone from outside the school wanted to make a difference in children's lives. Mr. Utchen not only gave a dictionary to each of the kids, but in his talk to them taught them how to use it. It is a very special gift to the students."

Third-grade student Kayla Lollar agrees, "Mr. Utchen helped us look up words and made the dictionary interesting by giving us examples of how we could use it. I use my dictionary a lot for homework now. I'll always remember Mr. Utchen, and I know that using the dictionary is important to my future."

"If you give youngsters something that is theirs to own, they'll take pride in it and use it," said Utchen. "Get in the habit of using a dictionary when you're young, and it will pay off the rest of your life. That's the idea that's so great about this project."

Since delivering the dictionaries, Mr. Utchen has received scores of thank-you notes from the students. He says he can tell that the teachers are having the kids use the dictionaries, and he hopes it continues. "Some of the letters are really neat," Utchen added. "The kids tell me I did a nice thing and then they list some words they looked up in their dictionary that day. I hope they are encouraged to continue and do this often."

According to Mary French, Ted Utchen is the only individual in the State of Illinois currently sponsoring the project. In some communities, civic organizations and foundations work to provide the dictionaries. For more information about The Dictionary Project, visit http://dictionaryproject.org/.