Instructors share myriad experiences

From helping to found eBay to hiking the Appalachian Trail, cherub instructors bring their skills and experiences to the program.

By Katherine Driessen and Rory Linnane

Jenny Hontz, co-head instructor

Hontz, a seasoned freelance journalist, has been a cherub instructor for six years.  She has worked for such publications as The New York Times, Variety, Newsweek and People.  Hontz’s article about a priest implicated in a sexual abuse case ran on the front page of The Sunday New York Times in May 2002.

What is it like to be a freelance journalist?

I absolutely love being a freelance writer because anything in my life lends itself to a story. I can go experience something new and then have it in The Washington Post. I do hard-core investigative reporting. I’ve written about pedophile priests for The New York Times, but I can turn around and go on an incredible vacation and write a travel story, or I can take a trapeze class and write a story about that, or a sword fighting class. I love the idea that I can go take an adventure and write a story about it.
You have to have an iron gut to be a freelance writer. You have to be comfortable with uncertainty and thrilled with variety. When I first started out, I went through months of tearing out my hair. Most likely you won’t get rich being a freelance writer. But you will be experience rich.

John Kupetz, instructor

Kupetz has been a cherub instructor for 27 years.  For 10 years he was an assistant professor and placement director for the Medill School of Journalism.

What is it like to be a veteran cherub instructor?

I’ve been a cherub instructor for longer than I’m willing to admit.  One of the best parts of teaching cherubs is seeing where they go five or six years later, after they graduate from college. I’ve been teaching this program long enough that I probably have a former student working for just about every major publication in the country. What I like most, though, is no grades. There is no pressure on students to make a grade. I can be tough on their writing and they can learn as much or as little as they want. That is teaching in its purest form.

David Weissman, instructor

Weissman has been an instructor at NHSI for seven years. He teaches a writing class at Medill, and worked as a journalist for the American Dental Association.  Weissman hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1999 for six months.

What is it like to hike the Appalachian Trail?

In 1999, my father’s second wife died. He called and said, “David, I have some very bad news.” And I said, “What?” And he said, ‘Liz died.” She had a pulmonary embolism. It’s strange to hear your own father weep like a five-year-old baby. I learned that life is short. And so I walked in part for her.
When I decided to go, my wife-to-be was the only one in my corner. I had a comfortable desk job. I was making good money, set for life. That’s kind of why I left. I got to the point in my corporate life where I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was going insane.
I went the summer of 1999. Most people try to do it in one summer, but only 10 to 15 percent make it to the end of the trail. About a quarter of the way through, the well-wishes and cheers of friends wear off. It’s just you on a trail with a pack, walking north. Your body hardens a bit. You eat when you’re hungry. You sleep when you’re tired.
I went alone, but I was among many other hikers, and we got really close. You just bond with these people. It’s like cherubs. It rained all day on me; it rained all day on you too. It’s a great equalizer. Like cherubs, it’s an intense experience no one else will understand but the people who go through it. A lot of them you wouldn’t usually even talk to because of all these preconceived notions.
When I got back, I knew that I was never going to sit behind a desk again-- ever. And I kept my promise.

Mary Lou Song, instructor

Song, a Medill graduate, has been a cherub instructor for four years. She was the third employee of a small Internet company that eventually grew into the 40 million-user Web site known as eBay.

What is it like to be known as the third employee of eBay?

It was a thrilling experience. Like a lot of jobs you’re just learning something new every single day. To be there from the very beginning, working in the Internet space when it was just beginning to catch on. We had no idea where it would go or how it would develop. But to be honest with you, sometimes I forget about it altogether. It was a very important part of life, but it’s not who I am. I don’t think of myself as the third employee of eBay. When I look back on my life I always come back to cherubs, and I always come back to Medill. They have both been such defining parts of my life.