Fort Franklin (Mar 20/06) - A dozen ?Ehtseo Ayha students are about to get a chance to experience life in an entirely new way.

The school is taking part in an exchange program with Stratford Northwestern secondary school in Ontario through the Department of Canadian Heritage. And folks around Deline can't wait for their guests to arrive next Monday.

"The kids came to me in September and said they really wanted to take part in something like this," said ?Ehtseo Ayha teacher Elisabeth Christensen, who together with her Stratford counterpart, Paul Finkelstein, have worked out most of the logistics.

"The students have done all the planning for what we'll be doing while they're here."

The first leg of the exchange is in Deline and will include a trip out in the bush, a drum dance, as well as a community feast.

"We're paired up with an ideal school," she said. "Stratford Northwestern puts a big emphasis on culinary arts, so they are very interested in learning about and sampling country foods."

The southern part of the exchange will happen at the end of April.

The 12 students will spend eight days travelling the area around Stratford with their hosts.

"I'm very excited to see what it's like to live down there," said Grade 10 student Carla Kenny. She hopes to become a doctor, so the part of the trip she's looking forward to most is getting a chance to tour several Ontario post-secondary schools.

"It will be great to see the colleges and universities in the south," she said. "I think it will really help me plan my future education."

Other items on the southern schedule include attending a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game and a visit to Niagara Falls.

While the federal department covers all of the travel costs associated with the exchange, the territorial department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Deline First Nation and Kingland Ford have all made contributions to help pay for the bush trip in Deline, said Christensen.

"The kids are all very excited about showing our guests what life is like here in Deline," she said. "They've been getting to know their exchange partners since about mid-January using e-mail."