Guest instructor Mary Lou Song (left) talks to Sarah Davidson about her work.

Sarah Davidson dreamed of interviewing singer John Mayer. Cynthia Wang, associate bureau chief of People magazine, had already done it.

“It was amazing she had done something I had always wanted to do,” Davidson, of Portland, Ore., said of the guest instructor.

At the National High School Institute – Journalism, cherubs like Davidson had the chance to speak personally to journalists and to hear first-hand accounts of interviews with sources like Mayer. Frequently those discussions continued after lectures, giving cherubs even more perspectives on journalism.

“You watch movies like ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ that make working for a magazine seem really abstract and glamorous,” Davidson said. “Talking to her made the goal of writing for a magazine seem more attainable.”

Bridget FitzGibbons, of Longmont, Colo., talked to former Dow Jones reporter and Medill adjunct lecturer Desiree Hanford about business reporting.“I learned more from our conversation than from the whole lecture,” FitzGibbons said.

She said Hanford’s talk about economics and math sparked an interest in business reporting.

Matt Wong, of San Diego, Calif., said talking to assistant professor Craig LaMay about privacy and journalism ethics opened his eyes.

“It gives you new perspectives,” Wong said. “People should know cherubs have the opportunity not only to gain insight through lectures but also have real conversations with people in the field.”

During the program, speakers were easy to approach, said Lauren Hitt, of Baltimore, Md. Hitt met Peter Sullivan, a writer for the Washington Post who worked in Iraq. Through that contact, she found other sources for a year-long school project on embedded journalism, the practice of reporters traveling with military troops in a war zone.

Davidson said the instructors were also supportive and accessible. When she had to compete against friends on a website design contest during the program, instructor John Kupetz encouraged her to focus on what was important.

“John gave me this whole pep talk,” she said. “He told me he doesn’t believe in competition and that I should do my best. It was nice to get some support.”

Davidson said having supportive professors and lecturers was one of the best aspects of the program.

“Being able to talk with these journalists, many of whom were also cherubs, showed me that I could be a journalist too,” she said.