Rotary exchange student leaves for Germany

The German flag will fly on the flag pole adjacent to the Rotary Clock Tower when Rotary Youth Exchange student Evan Yallop leaves to go to Germany on July 29. He is the first Rotary exchange student for the Tillsonburg Rotary Club since Covid. Left to right are: Rebecca Fink, Rotary exchange director; Gloria Aykroyd, Tillsonburg Rotary president, Evan Yallop and Amy Yallop, Evan’s mother. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Tillsonburg Rotary Club’s student exchange program is operating again for the first time since Covid-19.

Astute observers will notice the Rotary flag next to the Rotary Clock Tower was replaced with the black, red and gold of the German flag for a week. This is to signify Tillsonburg resident Evan Yallop leaving for Germany as part of his exchange. The German flag will fly again at the half-way point and when he returns.

“After his year, we’ll present him with the flag,” said Rebecca Fink, who heads the exchange program with Alisha Layman, director of Rotary youth programs in Tillsonburg.

Yallop heard about the program from Layman, and thought it would be interesting.

According to Rotary International, the Rotary Youth Exchange Program is “building peace one young person at a time.” It notes students learn a new language, discover another culture and become global citizens. They also build lasting friendships with young people from around the world. The program is open to students ages 15 to 19.

After his acceptance, Yallop’s experience started with Camp Wanakita in Haliburton and building snow hunts.

“We piled a whole bunch of snow, hollowed it out and slept in it,” he said. “It was amazing, but it was cold.”

He also did a 100-kilometre canoe trip from Peterborough to Curve Lake First Nation.

“That trip was started by Don Watkins, who was a former Rotarian and Tillsonburg resident,” Fink said.

Yallop has been working on learning German, and is a little intimidated about going to Grade 11 in Germany, with the main language in school being one he hasn’t mastered. He is going into Grade 12 in Tillsonburg, and will have to complete that year after returning.

He is leaving July 29, flying to Frankfurt, Germany, and staying in Gottingen. On top of the butterflies that might accompany such a trip, Yallop hasn’t flown before either. The trip will hopefully include sightseeing in Europe.

Fink joined Rotary in 2023 to help with the program after she went on the program herself to Peru in 2018-2019.

“I wanted to do what Bob Marsden did as far as helping out students,” she said. “It’s an amazing opportunity and an amazing experience.”

The operation of the program is also starting to flow the other way, with a student from Japan arriving in Tillsonburg at the end of August. The Japanese flag will fly on the pole during the arrival week.

The Tillsonburg Rotary Club has completed more than 90 youth exchanges since the first one in 1968. That first exchange involved both an inbound and outbound exchange with Mexico. The late Bob Marsden was called a “champion of the Youth Exchange Program” by club president Gloria Aykroyd, and he was recognized by the district for his efforts.