Stacy's team poses before the Cherub Junior Junior Olympics. Photo by Sarahmaria Gomez.

During class, meals and after check-in, all 84 cherubs were inseparable. But when they split up into instructor groups for a bit of friendly competition, it meant war.

Cherubs were divided into eight instructor groups, primarily to receive critiques of articles and other journalistic support. But instructor groups weren’t all work and no play.

Each group competed against the others in various events, such as the Junior Junior Olympics, Jeopardy, the Non-Athletic Triathlon and Karaoke Night.

“My favorite was Karaoke Night, because even though it was in instructor groups, the other groups were still really supportive, and some of them were so funny,” said Preetisha Sen of Ohio, who was on Jean Williams’ team.

Matt Silverman of Connecticut, who was on Charles “Cha-Cha” Whitaker’s team, also liked Karaoke Night the best.

“I thought it was a really nice way for our team to pool together our creative abilities and have a good time while doing it,” Silverman said.

Karaoke Night wasn’t a universal favorite, however. Tracy Cook, of Pennsylvania, who was on Stacey Wilkins’ team, preferred the Junior Junior Olympics.

“It allowed Team Stacey to showcase our abilities beyond journalism,” Cook said. “We were lucky enough to be graced with such athletic talent and this carried us to the top of the pack, and we’ve been leading the way since then.”

A scoreboard that kept track of each team’s total points was hung near the stairway in the dorm lobby.

“It’s really invigorating knowing that we’ve been in first the whole time and that we’ve never slipped below first,” said Alex Burnham of Missouri, who was also on Stacey Wilkins’ team. “The other teams walk by and know that we’ve been dominating.”

Win or lose, though, each team grew closer during the program, said Caitlin Gerena of Florida.

“The friendly competition brought John Kupetz’s team together more than anything,” she said. “When we sang ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen together on Karaoke Night, we didn’t care how good or bad we sounded, but we cared about having friends and bonding.”

But, as a representative from Sarahmaria’s team, Jessica Lim of California wasn’t ready to give up without a fight in week five.

“We’re about 20 points behind Stacey’s team right now,” she said. “We definitely look like the underdogs going into this, but we’re ready to bring that blood and pain. So they better watch out because we’re chasing them now, especially after Karaoke Night. We’re very pumped up. But may the best team win – as in our team is going to win.”