When Shutdown Postpones School Trip, Students Look for Answers

Eighth-grade students at the Pine Point School in Stonington were disappointed to learn their class trip to Washington, D.C. was postponed due to the government shut down. However, instead of waiting it out in frustration, they decided to turn their problem into a lesson.

The class showed up to Congressman Joe Courtney’s Norwich office on Wednesday morning, armed with letters for Congress and questions for their Representative.

“What is your personal opinion of this shut down?” student Harrison Hoops asked.

Rep. Courtney fielded their questions via video-chat from Capitol Hill.

He told them he has no idea how long the shutdown will last, but that he is hoping it will end soon, and when it does, he wants all of the students to visit his office at the Capitol.

“We knew we couldn’t go home and pout about it because that’s not going to help us learn anything,” student Faith Williams said. “We wanted to better understand why the shutdown is happening.”

The Pine Point School’s trip has been re-scheduled for the first week in March.

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