Cherubs compete in group activities

By Lynn Zukerman

Eight cherubs stand in a corner of the Great Room of the Jones Residential College holding a roll of unused toilet paper. Then the clock starts.

They single out the shortest girl and wrap her legs first. One boy grabs the roll and runs around the girl in circles. The cherubs realize that needs air and they tear a rough hole for the mouth. When time is up, the seven students stand back revealing a toilet paper mummy.

“It was frantic high energy and there was a lot of adrenaline,” said cherub Alyson Weiss, from Spring, Texas. “We all came together and it didn’t really matter if we liked each other or not.”

Click here to watch a slideshow about group activities in the great room.

Cherubs hang around and compete in various group
activities held in the great room.

Each of the nine instructors of the Medill cherubs program had a group of 10 to 11 students.

“Journalists by nature are very competitive and when you compete together, that enhances the team aspect to it,” instructor Victor Chi said.

The competitions included activities like karaoke, jeopardy and limbo all held in the Great Room.

“The karaoke was the best,” said cherub Carley Lake, from Los Angeles. “We used umbrellas and sang “Umbrella” by Rihanna and Jay-Z. "We didn’t really prepare, it just all came together and we won.”
           
Although the students competed against friends in other groups, they also shared a bond within their team.

“I remember when we had to build a little clay model of Professor Boye,” said cherub Kim Kirschenbaum, from Tenafly, N.J. “Some members of the group had more artistic ability than others so we all had to work together to conform to our weaknesses and strengths.”

The community associates were responsible for planning and judging the groups in the activities. The competitions do not change much year to year so they are just in charge of modifying them, CA Kristin Ellertson said.

“They almost force the students to talk to one another and try to reach a common goal,” Ellertson said.

The cherubs are also judged on whether or not all of them show up to the activities.

“It is a letdown when some people don’t show up because it jeopardizes our group seating,” said cherub Ali Elkin, from Hastings-at-Hudson, N.Y.

Another aspect of the competitions were the news quizzes, which were run by the instructors and usually presented around 20 questions relating to current news events and political figures.

“The long term value is getting into the habit of staying on top of the news,” Chi said. “Particularly if you are going into this business, knowledge is power. You need to be on top of the latest developments.”

After the quizzes were graded, instructors read off the top three scores. Team members cheered for each other when one of them got a top score.

Cherub Eric Mayo from New York City got first place in three of the news quizzes.

“When other people are looking at pictures of their friends on Facebook, I am reading the news,” Mayo said.

The competition gives the cherubs a chance to connect through a common goal.

“We have a lot of love for each other,” Elkin said. “We are definitely very close in our quest to secure the prize.”