Iqaluit (Dec 13/04) - Five students will trade the cold of the North for the cold of the south this week.

Ashley Tufts and Moses Arlooktoo from Iqaluit, Pitanie Pitsiulak from Kimmirut, David Alivaktuk from Panniqtuuq, and Jonathan Maktar from Pond Inlet will head to Antarctica on Dec. 17.

Petanie Pitsiulak, a Kimmirut youth, is a bit nervous about boat trip to Antartica. - photo courtesy of Billy Akavak

They have all been accepted to the international program called "Students on Ice."

"I am getting really excited," said Tufts last week. "I have never been out of Canada before. I can't wait."

Tufts raised the $12,000 needed to make the journey herself by getting help from Nunavut businesses, saving money from her job as a lifeguard this summer in Iqaluit and even receiving a generous $1,000 donation from the kids at Joamie school -- the school she attended as a child.

Joamie students gave Tufts an autographed a sweatshirt.

When Tufts returns, she will give Joamie a slide show of the South Pole, the penguins, the impressive landscape with herself in the midst of it all wearing the Joamie sweatshirt.

Tufts, who still can't believe she raised $12,000, is going to take advantage of the southern exposure and spend an extra few weeks in South America, touring Argentina and Chile.

Inuit participants received generous support from Inuit organizations. They had to raise money for their airline tickets to Toronto.

Petanie Pitsiulak in Kimmirut held a penny sale to raise money for the two week trip, which ends on Dec. 31.

She is typical of a Students on Ice participant: she has good marks in school, especially in math; she likes computers; she won a bronze medal at the Arctic Winter Games for the two foot high kick; and she plays ice hockey.

Days before she left Kimmirut on Dec. 14 she was already getting nervous about the boat trip to Antarctica because she heard it can be pretty rough. But she knows it will be a trip of a lifetime, and she will be filming the sights to show people back home.

Orla Osbourne of Iqaluit couldn't raise the $12,000 in time for the Antartica trip, but she hopes to head to the foot of Mount Everest next year with the program.