Waupaca chapter takes big view
By James Card
In a district area that spans from Michigan to North Dakota, Waupaca is the No. 1 chapter with the most inbound and outbound exchange students.
“Most small or big towns have a hard time finding host families and finding students that want to go abroad and Waupaca is this shining star among them. We are very well known for our incredible program here,” said Sandy Testin, who works with the Rotary Club of Waupaca Student Ambassadors, a program for foreign exchange students.
“In one year we sent six kids from little Waupaca all over the world. I mean who does that?” said Testin.
This year they have two Waupaca students abroad, one in Columbia and the other in Spain.
An exchange student from Finland recently talked about why it is important that Finland just became part of NATO.
“Those high school kids don’t have an idea about that but when they hear it from her about how it’s going to protect her and her country, it becomes more real. One thing that I think is so important in a little town is that some kids have never been to Madison or Milwaukee. They will never go to France or Finland. But if we bring [exchange] kids here, they might sit next to one in class and so they get to see the world right here in Waupaca. I think the presence of these kids in small Midwestern towns is hugely important to our worldview,” said Testin.
Testin said the Rotary Club has an incredible relationship with the local high schools and they go out of their way with the students who visit here and get them integrated quickly and also to help find students from Waupaca who would be good ambassadors for the community.
In the Waupaca Area Public Library’s lower-level is a free exhibit featuring the Waupaca Rotary Club’s work over the past 30 years. The exhibit will be on display until Friday, May 26.
On April 26, a reception was held in the exhibition room and members recounted some of the achievements the club.
All welcome
“I joined because Rotary had this program called the Group Study Exchange. It’s a business-to-business exchange. This one happened to be with Japan. Somebody contacted me because they knew I spoke Japanese. I went on the exchange I was so impressed with Rotary that I joined,” said Joe Jones, who spent time in Japan as a child
Jones became a member in 1996 and made it a point to visit Rotary Clubs around the world.
“I learned a lot from that and I found out a lot of things they do wrong. You don’t want to have a clique in your club,” said Jones.
He gave an example of a Baltimore Club where he was warmly greeted. When he sat down, the guy next to him told him he couldn’t sit there. That was Harry’s seat.
“I tried to avoid any of that in our club and now our club happens to be the largest in the district. Each club has its own personality. One thing we do is that we stay away from politics. We stay away from salty language. We want to make it welcoming to everyone,” said Jones.
Helping teachers
Chris Anthony is the membership chairperson and considers their educational grants program as one of their “golden nuggets.”
It’s simple: the program awards small grants to teachers to purchase machines or materials to create better lessons – the kind of things they would not ever think about getting from the school budget.
“When we did this was a period of time when the economy slipped and things were getting cut from the schools and we know that many educators put a lot of their own money into their classrooms and programs. There was the incubator for eggs. That teacher told me you would not believe the number of lessons I can teach with this. For the agriculture department in the school [Waupaca High] we purchased an ultrasound machine for animals. At the Chain O’ Lakes Exploration Center we bought kayaks. I’ve been amazed how creative these teachers are,” said Jones.
So far over $100,000 in grants has been awarded to 117 recipients. Wes Klages initially proposed the program to the club. “That’s the whole gist of this thing. If a teacher wants to do some things and don’t have funds they can get from their normal budget, they can apply for a grant and we can fund it. The feedback I’ve gotten from teachers is that it’s helped them inspire do things they couldn’t do and it makes their work more interesting and fun,” he said.
Library exhibit
In the library’s exhibition room there are other projects highlighted: Rotary distributes dictionaries for third graders every year to promote literacy; Pints for Polio, a fundraiser held in conjunction with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative that’s hosted by H.H. Hinder Brewing. After Christmas they pick up Christmas trees and during the Fourth of July,
Oktoberfest and other community events they can be seen helping out.
They also provided funding for Rotary Riverview Park. In 1997, it was designed by architect Terry Martin and the project was the forerunner of Waupaca’s downtown revitalization efforts. Every year, Rotarians roll up their sleeves for a spring clean-up at the park.