NEW BRITAIN--A group of CCSU students are fighting back after their planned school trip had to be changed.
Students in the Central Connecticut State University journalism department are leaving for Cuba at the end of this week, a revolutionary experience only recently made possible with the easing of restrictions on travel between the two countries.
"It's so exciting, it's like the opportunity of a lifetime to actually go there, do your research, and just get to know the Cuban lifestyle," said sophomore Kimberly Pena, one of the students traveling
However, little did the students know that President Barack Obama would announce a trip to Cuba that coincided with their travels. Obama will be the first sitting U.S. president to visit the island country in 88 years, and he will be traveling to the capital city of Havana on March 21 and 22 to meet with President Raul Castro, as well as entrepreneurs and other Cuban leaders.
"President Coolidge traveled to Cuba on a U.S. battleship, so this will be a very different kind of visit," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes wrote in a post on Medium.
However, the CCSU students had too planned on staying in Havana.
"We want to basically go and see the Cuban lifestyle--the culture, explore different things that they do there," explained Pena. "We're doing gender roles, sports, food--the rationing--the economy; we're trying to explore all the different aspects of Cuban life, and that's what our main goal was to do in Cuba."
And the president's visit meant the students had to change courses; the 21 young journalists were kicked out of their hotel reservations.
Instead of staying in Havana, the group will now stay in the resort area of Varadero.
"We're not going to be getting into the hands-on of the the Cuban people and their lifestyles, and explore the towns and residencies," she explained. The tourist area isn't as dominated by Cuban residents, and won't offer the same opportunities that going to the capital, where the government is, would have.
The Rolling Stones will also be visiting Havana just days after the president and have scheduled a concert for March 25, making an even more difficult situation for those wishing to travel to the city.
So how will the students make the trip educationally worthwhile?
"Well, we're journalism students, so we have find a way to get stories from hard surroundings and stuff," Pena said. "So what we hope to do is try and find transportation to Havana, or go out, go do our personal things, and just go out and explore in our own way and try to find stories from that way. We will do whatever we can, we want to come back with good stories for the public of the United States."
And when the students return, they plan to use their research to educate Americans on life in Cuba.
"We're planning on doing a magazine for once we come back. I think it's 28 pages, around there. We're going to share our stories with local news stations, newspapers, and do our own video packages, news packages, and try to share it with everyone so the public can see, and everyone else in Connecticut can see it also," said Pena.