From left: Kimberley Harris Granahan, CRW past president; Kathleen Chevalier, recording secretary; Deborah Bodlander, 2012 CRW president; Lauren Sheehy, Hybla Valley Elementary School principal; Denise Pinchback, school librarian; Marguerite Saitta, assisant principal; Christina Schinner; Barbara Bush Literacy Project chair, and Lorraine Boyd, CRW corresponding cecretary.
Mount Vernon — A delegation from Colonial Republican Women presented Hybla Valley Elementary School staff with a donation of 100 dictionaries on Dec. 20.
Colonial Republican Women, a local club affiliated with the Virginia Federation of Republican Women and the National Federation of Republican Women, provided the dictionaries in participation with the Barbara Bush Literacy Project. The Republican group was represented by Debbie Bodlander, president; Kathleen Chevalier, secretary; Nanci Sale, treasurer; Christina Schinner, Barbara Bush Literacy Project chair, and Kimberley Harris, immediate past president.
Colonial selected Hybla Valley Elementary School because it serves a diverse multicultural population in southeastern Fairfax County. More than 52 percent of its student body are enrolled in the English for Speakers of Other Languages curriculum, and over 87 percent are enrolled in the Free or Reduced Priced Meals program. Colonial Republican Women was attracted by the emphasis at Hybla Valley Elementary School on developing literacy, learning from hands-on experiences, practicing cultural sensitivity, and building character.
The dictionary chosen is “A Student’s Dictionary,” published by The Dictionary Project, Inc., and includes the Constitution of the U.S., the Declaration of Independence, brief biographies of all U. S. presidents, world maps, information about all 50 states, countries of the world, and the planets in our solar system.