A group of students from Thailand have been in the Sault experiencing Canadian culture and something they are not accustomed to — snow.
On Sunday, 15 male and female students aged 11 to 17 and their two teachers took to the ice at the Northern Community Centre to experience the Come Try Ringette event hosted by the Sault Ringette Club.
Although there are a small number of ice rinks in Thailand, there are far fewer opportunities for students there to use them compared to in Canada. Of the 15 students who travelled to the Sault, only one had experience skating on ice.
"We have this kind of a sport in some places but it's not famous there because it's something quite expensive there," said Paew Sopasing, one of the two teachers who accompanied the students from Thailand.
"Normally we are in a hot country. It means we don't have many of these cool places."
The students travelled to Canada for a six-week stay through a program offered by Sault-based CANASIAN Academic Adventures.
While here, the students have visited Searchmont Resort, Gilbertson's Pancake House on St. Joseph Island, and Hiawatha Highlands, among other locations.
"We're really trying to to expose them to that true Canadian northern experience," said Darren Vaughan, co-founder of CANASIAN.
Vaughan founded CANASIAN in 2004 with his wife Diana. The pair met as teachers while working in Southeast Asia.
The company offers a number of programs, but Vaughan said he prides himself on the homestay program, where students from abroad are matched up with families in Canada for their stay.
"We think it's a differentiator for us for sure. We do compete with a lot of other companies out of the the Greater Toronto area or Vancouver, but with this program and with this Thai group, the homestay program is the difference," said Vaughan.
CANASIAN partners locally with the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board, Algoma University and Sault College when bringing students from abroad, along with other community partners.
Amy Peltonen is the president of Sault Ringette Club, which hosted its free Come Try Ringette event on Sunday at the Northern Community Centre.
The club welcomed 54 first-time participants for the event including the 15 students from Thailand.
Peltonen said the current club members from the U10, U14 and U16 groups are helping the Thai students on and off the ice to learn the sport.
"We'll be helping players to learn how to skate and we also have brought rings and sticks that our volunteers will use to show them how to shoot a ring and how to skate with the ring," she said.
Peltonen said the club usually hosts two free Come Try Ringette events — one in the spring and another in the fall.
"We're trying to boost the participation of girls in sport. We find that once girls hit 14 years old there's a huge drop off on staying in sport," said Peltonen.
She said the club also welcomes participation by newcomers to Canada. One family participating in Sunday's event moved to the Sault from Ecuador only a few days ago.
"We're trying to welcome them into Canadian culture, welcome them to Sault Ste. Marie and give them the experience that hopefully they can grow into and stick around," she said.