Cherub Program Creates Lasting Memories

Emily Eckland (right) is excited for her brother, Sam, to be a Cherub this summer.

by Emily Eckland

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m in denial.

As a college senior with less than 50 days until graduation, I’ve been spending my last year at Northwestern ignoring the fact that I will soon be leaving the place I have called home for four years, and venturing outside of my college bubble. Throughout this year, my family members have nostalgically reminded me to enjoy every moment of my final year of college. My [overly] sentimental friends began remarking on “what little time we have left,” beginning in October. The little milestones, such as my last time registering for classes or participating in sorority rush, haven’t gotten to me as much as I anticipated.
But on April 2, 2005 it really hit me: I’m leaving Northwestern – and soon! That Saturday afternoon, I was working on my first paper of spring quarter when my brother called to tell me that he had a letter from Northwestern University in his hands and – guess what! – He was admitted into the Journalism Division of Northwestern’s National High School Institute. Sam, my 17-year-old brother, was going to be a Cherub!

After congratulating him and hanging up the phone, I experienced a range of emotions. I felt old. It had only been five years since I was a cherub…how could my little brother be one? I felt excited. I remembered how much fun I had living in a dorm for the first time and feeling like a professional journalist conducting man-on-the-street interviews in Evanston, even though I was only 17. My last feeling was jealousy. Sam was only beginning his Northwestern experience, while in two months, I was going to have to say goodbye to mine.

Since my freshman year of college, I’ve made some of the best friends I’ve ever had and shared many moments I’ll never forget, like attempting to “tan” along the lakefill with my sorority sisters on 55-degree Chicago spring days, or spending late nights in the McCormick-Tribune Center computer labs working on journalism projects, or laughing until I cried with my friends over chips and salsa at Las Palmas…I could go on forever. But one of my most cherished memories of Northwestern began in the summer of 2000 –even before I was formally admitted into the Medill School of Journalism– when I was a Cherub.

This summer, Sam will be able experience the same things I did when I was a Cherub: He’ll run all over Evanston covering the all-day story, commiserate with other Cherubs about missing mom’s cooking over meals in the Hinman cafeteria, report on Evanston’s Fourth of July parade and watch fireworks over Lake Michigan, forgo sleep to enjoy late-night dorm dance parties or movie marathons, listen to lectures from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and Medill professors, and maybe if he’s really lucky, he’ll even get to visit Playboy magazine on one of the many field trips into Chicago.

But how does Sam feel about becoming a Cherub?

“I’m excited and I’m definitely looking forward to getting away from home and meeting a bunch of new people that have similar interests to mine and getting a glimpse of college life and being able to improve as a journalist,” Sam said.

My brother won’t be the only sibling of a former Cherub at the program this summer. Director of the Journalism Division of the National High School Institute Roger Boye said a few of the 88 incoming Cherubs are relatives of former Cherubs.

“On average, we have had one to five students who have had close relatives in the program,” said Boye, who is also an Associate Professor at Medill. “Some of them actually say in their application that they heard a lot about it at home and that is what got them interested in thinking about the program in the first place.”
Sam was definitely one of those people. Ever since he’s shown the slightest interest in journalism, I’ve been shamelessly promoting my own Cherub experience.

“I’m not really sure if I would even be interested in journalism if it wasn’t for you, and the really good experiences you’ve had like working on the high school newspaper, going to the Cherub program and attending Medill,” Sam told me.

This summer should be especially exciting for Sam and other incoming Cherubs because it marks the 75th anniversary of the National High School Institute. To celebrate, the Journalism Division will hold a special lecture from NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker on July 22, Boye said.

A part of me wishes that I could stay in Evanston this summer to watch –okay embarrass– Sam and re-live my Cherub experience all over again.

“I feel like I’m picking up where you left off,” Sam said. “I think it’s really cool because being a Cherub can guide me in a possible direction, but it still leaves me to have my own path and not completely follow your footsteps.”

My interest in journalism began as a child, but Sam’s is just beginning to blossom and he told me he’s looking forward to improving his writing and reporting skills.

“I’m excited to learn more about news and editorial writing,” Sam said. “I think this summer will be really good for me, because I am thinking about pursuing journalism in college.”

I can’t help feeling nostalgic when I hear the excitement in my brother’s voice. I know he will leave the program a better reporter and writer, but I am hoping he will come home having had as wonderful of an experience as I did. I am so proud of him and I can’t wait to share our Cherub memories together.

Emily Eckland wrote this essay as a class assignment for the News and New Media course in spring 2005.