Former cherubs and recent Medill grads become first-year instructors

By Shelby Sklar

Jesse Abrams-Morley was first interested in pursuing journalism as a junior in high school. When his friend applied for the summer 2000 journalism session of NHSI, Abrams-Morley sent an application too.

His enjoyable experience at cherubs led him to apply to Medill early decision, even though he didn’t know much about Northwestern before cherubs, he said. Once at Medill, he wrote for The Daily Northwestern and won a spot as a "Top Ten" Scripps Howard Foundation scholar in 2004. Abrams-Morley has put some of his articles to good use when he used them to teach this summer's cherubs about editorial writing. Abrams-Morley said he is starting law school at Northwestern in the fall of 2007 to further his career.

“Law school will open up a lot of doors,” first-year instructor Abrams-Morley said. “I can still write and edit, but I can also practice law. By the time I graduate from law school, it’ll be 2010 and will be almost 10 years after cherubs.”

Attending cherubs in 2001 also led Jacqueline Chmielnicki to enter Medill. After internships at Condé Nast Traveler and trade magazine Sales & Marketing Management, Chmielnicki came back to cherubs for the summer 2007 session as a first-year instructor.

“I had the opportunity to be a part of a program that I absolutely loved,” Chmielnicki said.

As former cherubs, Chmielnicki and Abrams-Morley said they understand what their students are going through because they remember their own experiences.
           
“I relate and connect to each student personally because I’ve been where they are now,” Chmielnicki said. “It’s this bond I share with the students because by the end we have all gone through very similar experiences.”

Jeff Scholl, of Bethesda, Md., said Abrams-Morley knew a balance between work and fun is necessary to have the best cherub experience.

“He said he remembered what it's like and it felt like he was on our side,” Scholl said. “He has been in our shoes and he understands what makes a good cherub experience.”

Although it has been a few years since Chmielnicki and Abrams-Morley were cherubs themselves, they said many crucial journalism skills taught have been retained. Besides using new forms of technology and focusing more on multimedia, Abrams-Morley said the basic skills and knowledge gained are the same.

“One of the nice things about the program is at its core it doesn’t change,” Abrams-Morley said. “The basic underpinnings of what makes a good journalist haven’t changed.  Those things are never going to change.”