Connection crazy Cherubs make connections, find mutual friends Charlotte Ryan, a cherub from London, came to Evanston expecting to not know anyone but instead found an old friend. Ryan and Elisabeth Dion of Midland, Mich. went to middle school together in Switzerland. At check-in Ryan had been rushing around when Dion’s mother recognized her. “I was so worried about not knowing anyone when I got here,” Ryan said. “It’s just nice to have someone to go to dinner with you know?” The two quickly caught up and found they had ties with another cherub, Molly Davis from Woodland Hills, Calif. Davis goes to school with a friend that the two knew in Switzerland. “It’s just so funny,” Dion said. “This isn’t a huge point of conversation; it’s just the starting point. It’s more of an ‘oh wait, no way’ small-world kind of thing.” Gabe Debendetti, a cherub from Princeton, N. J., found he had mutual friends with nine other cherubs. In one conversation, Debendetti discovered a fellow cherub, Danny Daly of Potomac, Md., actually knows Debendetti’s family. “Danny’s dad coached my cousin in basketball,” Debendetti said. “The conversation started out when I realized he lives in the same town as my family. It was total happenstance that we realized they live near each other and actually knew each other.” These connections provided him with conversation starters and small talk that developed into friendships, he said. “Knowing the same people won’t be something we bond closely over,” Debendetti said. “It’s more just a way to start conversations, and then those can develop into more if you want them to.”
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Click here to hear a podcast on how we cherubs are connected. Producers Erin Jentz, Alex Katz, Laurel Stankus 