Five students from Sainte Foy, Que., are now working at non-profit organizations within Weyburn and southeast Saskatchewan as part of an exchange program sponsored through the Souris-Mountain MP's office.

Marie-Eve Samson, Camille Pelletier, Naouel Allouche, Alexandre Boutet and Micheline Lagacé arrived in southeast Saskatchewan on July 2.

They exchanged places with Sarah Acton and Candace Shirkie of Weyburn, Leah McKerricher of Ogema, Stephanie Walter of Lampman and Kaley Whyte of Creighton.

As part of the exchange, the 10 students will be living in each other's homes. The exception is Whyte, whose family lives too far away to participate in the exchange, so Danette and Calvin Tracey of Weyburn is hosting one of the students.

While here, the five students, who are all 16 to 17 years old, will be looked after by Michelle Pilon, who is co-ordinating the program. She was responsible for recruiting five local students for the program, and then finding jobs for the five Quebec students.

Pilon is also responsible for lining up weekend activities for the students until they go back to Quebec on Aug. 16.

"I'm basically their mom for the entire six weeks that they're here," she said.

The Quebec-Saskatchewan exchange is part of a federal government language and employment initiative that occurs across the country, said Pilon.

As part of the program, the local MP's office sponsors these students to work at non-profit organizations, said Pilon.

The purpose of the program is twofold: first, to improve students' employability skills by immersing them in a new language and giving them valuable work experience; second, to help out non-profit organizations throughout Canada by giving them "an extra worker," said Pilon.

The five Quebec students are working at the Family Place, the Souris Wheatland Challenge, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), the Ogema Regional Park and the Town of Lampman.

Pilon said she chooses each student's job based on conversations with the Quebec co-ordinator of the program, an interview with each student and the non-profit employer's own preferences.

Though the exchange is used to strengthen each student's second language skills through immersion, Pilon said they need some basic English because they begin working right away.

"The third day of being in Saskatchewan, they were at their jobs full-time, so they need to be able to speak some English," said Pilon, adding the Weyburn students also needed some basic French.

The Weyburn Lions Club is also involved in the program as a sponsoring organization. There are a lot of expenses associated with the program, but rather than leave Michelle to open an account and manage all the money, on top of her other duties, the Lions Club is given a grant to disperse out to Pilon for weekend activities and such.

They're also an extra resource of support if she needs, for example, access to a computer or a photocopier, or an extra driver for a trip, she said.

Though they've only been here since July 1, Pilon said the students are enjoying their time here.

"It was really overwhelming when they first came here," she said. "They really like when we were driving (to Weyburn), seeing canola fields. They were just in awe of this yellow field It's definitely a new experience for them."