After Penn State baseball announced earlier this month that it will travel to Havana, Cuba this November, the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism revealed it will also send eight student journalists to cover the team.

The Curley Center is partnering with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association to cover this exciting trek. The partnership between the two will be similar to its previous trip to cover Penn State football at the 2014 Croke Park Classic in Ireland. During the trip to Dublin, the Curley Center produced materials that were used by more than 20 news outlets.

One of the eight students going on the newly approved trip is senior Gabrielle Chappel. When she found out about the trip, she knew that she had to get on board.

“As someone who is double majoring in Spanish and Broadcast Journalism, as well as a heavy interest in sports, I felt like the trip was meant for me,” Chappel said.

While Chappel is excited for the opportunity to travel to Havana to cover Penn State baseball, she doesn’t have any expectations heading into the trip.

“It’s hard to say what exactly I expect simply because, no one really knows what to expect when traveling to Cuba,” Chappel said. “We really won’t even know for sure if the trip will be entirely possible up until the week before we go (granted it’s likely). Cuba is one of the most unique cultures in the world, and for us to have this experience is truly unbelievable. So I have no other expectations except hoping to experience the Cuban culture in a way that I can relate to the rest of Penn State, perhaps even the world if our stories get picked up.”

With this recent announcement, the John Curley Center is becoming heavily involved in a number of international trips. These trips include covering the 2014 Croke Park Classic in Ireland, this year’s upcoming trip to Cuba, and its trip to cover the 2016 Paralympics in Rio De Janeiro. John Affleck, the director of the John Curley Center, is enthusiastic about the opportunities these trips bring for its students.

“Between this journey and the Center’s recently announced plan to cover the Paralympics in 2016, I feel that the Curley Center is giving its students real-time, professional experiences while covering events with cultural significance,” Affleck said. “The trip to Havana could not come at a more important moment for U.S.-Cuba relations and we are excited that we’ll be there to tell the story for everyone back in Pennsylvania.”