Junior Nathan Krauss was ready to go home on Saturday, Jan. 3 when he got a notification on his phone.
But he would not return on Saturday. He would not return on the following Monday, when school resumed. School went on for an entire week as students studied for finals, and Krauss remained stuck on the Caribbean island of St. Martin.
Multiple students planned to return to the United States from their holiday vacations in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean that Saturday, but faced delays and cancellations as Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured and taken to the United States by the US military.
Announced in the early morning of Jan. 3 by President Donald Trump, the operation brought an end to the Venezuelan leader’s 13-year rule. But it also resulted in a wave of flight cancellations that swept across the Caribbean, leaving some students stranded.
“I woke up, and the first thing I saw was [the] US invading Venezuela [and] Maduro’s kidnap,” Krauss said. “Then I saw the flight cancellations.”
In a statement to The Panther Press, the Federal Aviation Administration stated that NOTAMs had been issued in the areas where Krauss and and junior Juliette Loyd were staying. A NOTAM, or ‘notice to airmen,’ is the way the FAA enforces flight cancellations.
According to a post on X by US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the restrictions were due to the “safety of the flying public” after the military operation in the early morning.
The restrictions were lifted later that weekend, but the damage was done: Krauss would not come back to school until that Friday. Loyd, who was in Puerto Rico, would not return until Wednesday.
“It’s terrible,” Loyd said. “This didn’t get congressional approval, so nobody knew that this was going to happen.”
Students missed multiple days of school due to the restrictions, losing out on review time for final exams scheduled for the next week.
“I get really stressed about missing school,” Loyd said. “I was like, ‘oh my god, I can’t miss school.’ I’m going to miss everything, and we’re going to be stuck here forever.”
Krauss, though lamenting the need to make up schoolwork, noted the benefits of remaining stranded.
“We went on a nice little snorkeling trip,” Krauss said. “I’m in the Caribbean. Can I really complain?”
Krauss still wishes the situation could have been avoided.
“I can’t do anything,” Krauss said. “Could you have waited one more day?”
