First Nations teenagers attending high schools in Thunder Bay got a taste Wednesday night of what the city can offer when it comes to curing homesickness.

The city and the Wasaya Group sponsored an event at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School to welcome aboriginal high school students.

Caitlyn Nodin, who is from Whitesand First Nation and attending school at Superior CVI, said she's glad she came to the event.

The Wasaya Group's Tom Kam, left, and Mayor Keith Hobbs pose for a photo with Caitlyn Nodin and friends at a special orientation session for First Nations youth. Jody Porter/CBC

"I found out it's a fun place," she said about the city after checking out some of the booths. "There's not so many things you can do on the reserve."

Nodin was one of several students who posed for a picture with Thunder Bay's mayor, Keith Hobbs. The mayor told them it's important to get a good education.

Noting the city's large and growing aboriginal population, Hobbs said he told the students: "You could be the mayor of Thunder Bay one day."

Hobbs also said he wants the students to feel welcome in their home away from home.

Marilyn Boyce was also among students touring the booths from various municipal services set up around the school gym.

"[I'm] just learning about programs that are open for us around the city," she said.

Boyce said she plans to be a chef one day, but first she has to finish high school. She's doing that far from her home in Eabametoong, at the Matawa learning centre in Thunder Bay.

Tom Kam, president of the Wasaya Group, which sponsored the event, said the company is responding to the deaths of seven First Nations students in the city in the past decade.

"We were asked to look into how to prevent any more loss of youth," he said.

Kam said the positive messages and the support services at this week's gathering are part of that prevention plan.