Flash piece done by Kristin Mathuny and Mary Kate Hayes
Five weeks is a long time to go without internet service and at the Medill cherubs program, students have to do just that. Students do not have access to Wi-Fi in the dorms, so they find other routes to the information superhighway. While the computer lab in Fisk and phones with 3G are an option for some, many prefer to venture off of the Northwestern University campus to cafés and restaurants with Wi-Fi service for their laptops.
According to program director Roger Boye, students are not permitted to use Wi-Fi in the dorms mainly for two reasons.
When students five years ago had access to the internet in their dorms, they were less social. “People sat in their dorms emailing friends from home, so the group was much more separated,” Boye said. “This way, at least they have to come to Fisk to do email.”
It’s a sort of “forced socialization,” Boye said.
“Some of the computers also had viruses, and the tech people were not too happy about that,” Boye said. If cherubs were going to continue to use their own laptops to get on the internet, the tech team had asked to check all computers first, a process that would have been long for a group of more than 80 students.
Chelsea Surmanek from California went into town for Wi-Fi at least once a week to check Facebook with cherub friends.
Surmanek found comfort in using her own computer. “I bring my laptop … nothing compares to just using your own computer,” she said. She and her friends frequented Panera Bread at the corner of Sherman and Church. “We went to Panera on, like, the second day and they told us that they had free Wi-Fi,” Surmanek said.
Other free Wi-Fi hotspots are at the Globe Café and Bar on Orrington Street, Barnes & Noble Booksellers at Sherman and Church, Unicorn Café and Starbucks Coffee on Sherman between Church and Clark streets, Così and Einstein Bros. Bagels at Sherman and Clark. Cherubs typically stick with Panera Bread and Unicorn Café for the convenience and food.
Gabe Rosenberg, of Pennsylvania, went to Unicorn Café instead of Panera Bread or Starbucks because he wanted to support a local business.
“It’s a fun place to be,” Rosenberg said. “Lots of unicorns are on the walls and there are spunky baristas.”
He preferred going into town because he liked having his MacBook with him. “It’s more fun to be on mine than on the computers in Fisk because there are specific programs, plus there are documents on it that I have to email,” he said.
“It was just sort of a way to not be in the same old place and to be able to have a nice cold drink in the air conditioning,” Rosenberg said.
