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Rotary Club gives books to students

For several years the Rotary Club of Cloquet has sponsored two local projects revolving around literacy, an important mission of Rotary International.

This month a total of 299 third-graders from Churchill, Washington, Winterquist, South Terrace, and Wrenshall elementary schools each received a handy dictionary/reference book to keep. In addition, 286 kindergarten students at the same schools each received a personal story book with the characters and the settings preselected by each student and woven into a story. The kindergarteners are proudly able to read these stories aloud from a real book with themselves and their own friends and family as characters.

In the past, Rotarians personally presented the books but pandemic protocols didn’t allow for that this year. Rotary officials — including Julie Rothmeier, who has led the club’s literacy project for several years — said it is gratifying to hear so many students keep and treasure their books.