After beginning their own paths in journalism years ago, seven former Medill cherubs returned to Medill to teach journalism to rising high school seniors in the summer of 2011.
The lineage spans three generations. Instructor John Kupetz taught Bret Begun in 1993. Thirteen years later, Begun was then Olivia Bobrowsky’s instructor. The 2011 cherubs learned from Kupetz, Begun and Bobrowsky, as well as four other former cherubs, instructor Mary Lou Song and guest instructors Cynthia Wang, Tom Giratikanon and Jeremy Gilbert.
“Cherubs really is like one big family, and Roger is like all of our fathers,” Begun said. “Like any family, it’s always good to come home.”
Bobrowsky uses some of Begun’s teaching techniques and carries on a few of his traditions. She said she loved Begun’s thorough and nitpicky edits and tries to mimic his editing style. She hosts her student conferences downtown at Evanston’s Unicorn Cafe because Begun did.
Bobrowsky said the Medill cherub program transformed her into a confident journalist and influenced her decision to attend Northwestern University.
“We’re only here for five weeks, but what you learn here stays with you for your whole life.” Bobrowsky said.
Song also attended Northwestern University after she was a cherub. She said she returned as an instructor because she wanted to give back to the program.
“Everything good in my life can be somehow traced back to cherubs,” Song said. “If the program wasn’t amazing, people wouldn’t come back.”
A cherub in 1988, Wang said the program prepared her for her future in journalism. She now works at People Magazine and takes a week during each summer to teach magazine workshops at the cherub program.
“Every so often you will see a couple of students you know go on to do great things,” Wang said. “You feel that teacher’s pride of ‘Oh, I knew them.’”
As cherubs, Wang used phonebooks and pay phones to report, and Song wrote stories on a typewriter. Although the program has changed with the evolution of technology and the Internet, instructors said the camaraderie and friendship remain the same.
“There is still the similarity of the enthusiasm of the students and making friends,” Wang said. “I don’t think that changes.”
Many assignments are also the same each year. They include the trend story, meeting assignment, and the roommate interview.
Begun said he completed many of the same assignments that Bobrowsky and the 2011 cherubs did this year. He said his former instructor and former cherub, Kupetz and Bobrowsky, have become his friends, and he looks forward to each summer he teaches.
With experience as cherubs, these instructors can relate to their students and help them make the most of the program.
“When I give them an assignment, I feel for them,” Bobrowsky said. “I remember how it was for me and I know how hard it is.”
