Spaghetti is high up on Elyssa Cherney’s favorite food list, but she felt uncomfortable eating it during the pre-cherub dinner that she planned.

“I was slurping it, and I felt self-conscious because no one was eating much,” she said.

Cherney of Illinois had organized the dinner through Facebook as a way for cherubs to get to know each other before their first day at the journalism program at the National High School Institute. Initially fearing that no one would attend, Cherney was pleased to see 10 cherubs and their family members gather at the family-style Evanston restaurant, Dave’s Italian Kitchen.

“I thought it was a good, welcoming atmosphere to kick things off with,” she said.

The cherubs that came represented seven different states.

“It was a good inside look at how diverse people would be,” Tessa Hochberg of Pennsylvania said.

Although the cherubs came from all over the country, connections were discovered through conversation.  When Cambria Litsey of Minnesota mentioned a camp she attended the previous summer, Sara Nordstrand of Nebraska was shocked.

 “Cambria went to my dream camp in South Africa,” Nordstrand said. “I was happy to meet people who had common interests.”

Similarities drove conversation throughout the night.

“It wasn’t that awkward. I found if you kept talking you’d find similarities,” Cherney said. 

One thing that most of the cherubs had in common was the anxiety before coming to the dinner.

“I was super nervous,” Litsey said. “I was afraid I would be the only one to show.”

The cherubs were familiar with each other from the Facebook group that Cherney had created months before.

“I was really nervous before,” Cherney said. “It was weird that these people really existed and weren’t just pictures on my computer screen. They were standing in front of me, breathing and asking me questions.”

After conversations about common interests, school newspapers and the journalism program they would soon be attending, cherubs left to rest before their first day at Northwestern University. Many cherubs who attended the dinner felt more comfortable on the first day.

“The first day wasn’t as awkward,” Hochberg said. “Seeing familiar faces was comforting.”

The pre-cherub dinner helped to establish a common ground between strangers who would be living together for five weeks.

“Funny thing is a lot of people who were there ended up being close friends at cherubs,” Cherney said.