At dinner one night with her aunt, Jeneen Garchow ate a salad with chicken and vinaigrette and watched “The Silence of the Lambs.” The next day, she was at the National High School Institute and eating doughy pizza at Hinman cafeteria with 87 new friends.

“The movie foreshadowed the utter horror that I would find at 1835 Hinman,” Garchow, of Rockford, Mich., said. “Hinman was not the jewel of my cherub experience.”

Journalism cherubs had to adjust to the hours, the company and the food at the summer program. For some, 1835 Hinman’s fixed dinner hours, between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., were a challenge.

“My family eats at 10 p.m. at home, so by the end of night lectures, I was starving,” Keelin O’Donoghue, of College Park, Md., said.

O’Donoghue frequently ordered Domino’s pizza at night with a friend.

“I would eat half of it before going to sleep,” O’Donoghue said.

Shaina Coogan, of Cooper City, Fla., said that she had to adjust from making her own meals at home to selecting premade items at the Hinman cafeteria.

“I usually cook for myself,” Coogan said. “There was less freedom.”

Going from eating dinner with family members to eating in a hall with large groups of people was a change for others.

“It’s been a tradition for my family to come together and connect at dinner,” Dana Tom, of Menlo Park, Calif., said. “I do miss my family. It’s been a challenge to adapt.”

Tom said that building a network of cherub friends helped her deal with the difference.

“I’m surrounding myself with support,” she said. “It’s not a replacement for family, but it’s easier not to feel homesick.”

Despite negative reviews of the food, cherubs used time at the cafeteria as an opportunity to get to know each other.

“I found out a lot over Hinman delicacies,” Coogan said.

“Every day it’s the same thing — pizza, grilled cheese, French fries and whatever weird ethnic food they’re promoting,” Julia Haskins, of Washington, D.C., said. “But even when I’m eating cereal for dinner the second night in a row, at least I’m with my friends.”