SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Students from Yellowknife and Ottawa ate their dinners sprawled on the rock area at St. Patrick high school Friday, listening to 3-Across-Dee-Eye perform.

It was the last night of a week-long exchange between Grade 7 and 8 students from Weledeh school and Westboro Academy in Ottawa.

Liam Nesbitt and Abigail Chan, visiting students from Ottawa, enjoyed their time in Yellowknife. - Alix McNaught/NNSL photo

"It's been really great; they've been wonderful," said Trent Hamm, a science and technology teacher at Weledeh.

Hamm and Weledeh teacher Laurie Bailey applied for a youth exchange through YMCA Exchanges Canada.

The program is run through Canadian Heritage and the YMCA administers the grant, paying for both schools' flights.

"We went down to Ottawa in February after lots and lots of planning and getting to know the kids online and creating projects, trying to figure out ways to know their city before we got there," said Hamm.

After writing essays, 16 Weledeh students were selected from more than 60 who applied to participate in the exchange.

During their week-long visit to Ottawa in February, students visited Parliament and the Museum of Civilization, went skiing in Gatineau and saw an NHL hockey game.

"We skated on the Rideau Canal, ate beaver tails and had a wonderful experience," said Hamm.

As part of the exchange program, the participants must do community engagement projects in both cities.

While in Ottawa, students carved snow sculptures at Ronald McDonald House, a charity for seriously ill children.

"One of the parents taught us how," Hamm said. "The kids were too sick, but they were there to watch. We kind of left the artistry behind for them to enjoy. It was just part of a connection with the community."

For their community engagement piece in Yellowknife, students helped clean up Fritz Theil Park.

To introduce the Westboro students to Yellowknife, Hamm and Bailey organized tours of Buffalo Airways and First Air, golfing, a visit to the legislative assembly as well as trips to Behchoko and Cameron Falls. They also dressed up and took voyageur canoe rides around Frame Lake.

Liam Nesbitt and Abigail Chan, both Grade 7 Westboro students, said they enjoyed their time in Yellowknife.

"It was really exciting," said Chan, who had expected lots of snow and cold in Yellowknife. "We spent the whole week at our twins' houses, and so we ate what some of what the elders ate, which is caribou meat, and we went to some historical points, like the Wildcat Café. We had a scavenger hunt around the town, and we took pictures all together in certain spots."

"I liked going to Cameron Falls and just hanging out with everybody eating hotdogs and S'mores. We spent a lot of time together as a group, friendship bonding and everything," said Chan, who had some trouble adjusting to all the daylight.

"We felt normal, but the light did not," she said. "We had extra curtains in some of the houses."

"I thought we were going to see a polar bear, but at least I got to see one in the airport," said Nesbitt.

"The beautiful thing about this town is that, because it's so small, everyone knows each other."

Nesbitt also marvelled at how young the teachers in Yellowknife are.

"It's nice to see that people this young are so dedicated to children. Another really surprising thing was when we went to a school in Edzo one day, on our way back we saw a buffalo on the side of the road."

Both Chan and Nesbitt plan to stay in touch with the friends they have made in Yellowknife.

"Some of our classmates might come back to Yellowknife, and some of them are coming to Ottawa," Chan said.

Hamm hopes to arrange other exchanges in the future.