A trip into history: Charlotte Country Day students see Cuba at a crossroads

Overseas trips are practically routine at Charlotte Country Day School, a private school with a strong international studies program.

But a recent student trip to Cuba, a communist country that has just begun opening to American trade and travel, is not only a first for the school but possibly for the state.

Neither the travel company that worked with CCDS nor a national association of private schools involved in global studies has heard of other North Carolina schools sending students to Cuba. No students have gone from Charlotte-Mecklenburg or Wake, the state’s largest public school districts.

That’s likely to change.

“There’s definitely a huge, huge interest,” said Julian Jacobs of Educational Travel Adventures, who said the agency is lining up lots of school trips in 2016.

“We’re starting to see the trend pick up,” agreed Joe Vogel, executive director of Global Education Benchmark Group, an Ohio-based association of about 200 private schools.

The 22 CCDS high school students who visited Thanksgiving week were fascinated by everything from streets filled with vintage cars to Cuba’s take on the conflict that shut down relations with the U.S. for more than 50 years.

“It’s like going back in time,” said 17-year-old Ansley Hardison.

CCDS already had more than a dozen international trips planned for its middle and high school students this school year. But when President Barack Obama loosened travel restrictions for Cuba, students approached international studies director David Lynn about planning a trip. While tourism isn’t completely open, educational activity is among 12 purposes authorized for travel.

The cars, carefully preserved from before the communist revolution and the end of U.S. auto imports, are the most visible sign of the island nation’s isolation. But students were eager to delve deeper into a world that’s mostly untouched by American commerce and Western culture.

“I think it’s incredibly important to go now,” 17-year-old Lee Cohen, a political science aficionado, said before the trip. His goal is to return in another 10 to 15 years and see what changes.

Andy Gong, a 17-year-old exchange student from China, was part of the group. Visiting a communist country wasn’t a big deal to him, but China opened up to commerce and travel before he was born. Based on what his parents have told him, “it feels like Cuba is a 1980s China,” Gong said after the group returned.

Lynn and the students worked with Jacobs, who is based in Charlotte, to plan the trip. Jacobs said the strong level of student leadership was unusual.

Some of the group’s most ambitious visions, such as meeting President Raúl Castro and visiting the reopened U.S. Embassy, didn’t materialize. But they blended service, tourism, learning and dancing during a week in Havana, Santa Clara, Jibacoa, Trinidad and Cienfuegos.

‘Cretins corner’

Not surprisingly, the students quickly saw a different view of the Cuban revolution, the United States’ attempted invasion at the Bay of Pigs, the showdown over nuclear missiles in Cuba and the decades of frozen relations that followed.

One of the first sights that greeted them at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana was “El Rincon de los Cretinos,” or Cretins Corner, featuring unflattering caricatures of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, along with deposed Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista.

“The Cuban perspective can be so different than the US’s,” Gong and fellow student Camila Saavedra wrote in the class journal for the first day. “It reminds us that before making a judgment, we should fully understand the picture and the interest of the rival parties.”

More than a garden

The group’s first service project was at La Riviera organic garden, in the heart of the city of Santa Clara. They pulled some weeds, the students say, but spent far more time listening to Anastacio Capote, who ran the garden.

He talked about his pride in the revolution and how the garden continues that spirit by growing healthy food for the community. Their guide later told them that Capote was a decorated veteran of the revolution and a friend of the Castros and Ché Guevara.

The next day, at a memorial to Guevara, they spotted a photo of Guevara with Capote. When half a dozen students gathered to recount their trip, Capote figured large in their reports.

“You don’t have to like or be in support of the revolution to be in awe of his contributions,” said Mark Emilio Suris, 17.

Student life

The students say they got a consistently warm welcome despite the political tension between the two countries.

They met students at Capitán Roberto Rodriguez School in Santa Clara, where the initial awkwardness quickly turned into animated conversation.

The CCDS students, whose daily routine includes hours of homework squeezed in around sports, clubs and other planned activities, were struck by the independence of their Cuban counterparts. When school is done, the Cuban teens walk or take public transportation, hanging out with their family at home or with friends in dance clubs.

While clubs in the U.S. often cater only to young adults, Cuban music clubs draw everyone from kids to grandparents, the CCDS students said. They heard families talk with pride about bringing the next generation to their favorite clubs.

And while Cuban students were familiar with American pop music, most of what the visitors heard in clubs and on the streets was traditional music. The trip included several Cuban dance lessons, which the students recall with delight and a good bit of ribbing about each other’s skills.

Challenge and gratitude

The CCDS students say travelers to Cuba should be prepared for hotels that are rustic by U.S. standards. They encountered their share of cold showers and plumbing that didn’t work. Meals tended to be repetitious: pork or chicken, rice and pineapple at almost every meal.

Lynn, who was one of the adult chaperones, said he was impressed that the students didn’t complain. They seemed to relish the challenge, converging in whichever room had working showers that day.

The group spent Thanksgiving at Hotel Ancón in Trinidad, on the Caribbean coast. They had hot showers with good water pressure, went for a swim, played Frisbee on the beach and returned to a Thanksgiving feast prepared by the hotel staff: Tturkey, vegetables, rice and french fries. For dessert there was a cake with a short message in icing: “Happy.”

They were struck by how much they have to be grateful for, Hardison says, at home and on their trip.

Several mentioned the optimism they heard from Cubans.

“The spirit of the revolution, not the actual revolution, is what lives on,” Cohen said.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 6:00 AM with the headline "A trip into history: Charlotte Country Day students see Cuba at a crossroads."