The usual chorus of chairs creaking, cameras clicking and friends chatting filled 217 Fisk Hall as the cherubs awaited their next guest speakers. The noise died down as four unfamiliar speakers filed into the auditorium and onto the stage. Alec Klein, Sergio Serritella, Alex Campbell and Lara Takenaga took their seats and introduced the cherubs to the Medill Innocence Project.

During a 10-week investigative journalism class, seniors Campbell and Takenaga tracked down and interviewed key sources. Their class was guided by Klein, an award-winning investigative reporter, and Serritella, a teaching assistant and private investigator.

“In my senior year (high school) social justice class, there was a section about the Medill Innocence Project,” Takenaga said. “I realized how powerful journalism could be and I was really excited to go to Medill. I wanted to take the class during my four years there.”

The six students who enrolled in Klein’s class made the class their first priority. Their case revolves around Donald Watkins and the 2004 murder for which he was convicted.

“The nature of the class is difficult because you are investigating a case where you start with hardly anything,” Takenaga said. “We were working around the clock — sending emails whenever we found something, whether it was one in the morning or in the middle of the day.”

Cherubs found inspiration from their work.

“It was fascinating how one little piece of information can lead to such a big change in the investigation,” Samantha Sabin, of North Carolina, said. “I remember when I first decided to be a journalist. I wanted to be an investigative journalist, but I never understood how much work went into it. It was really inspiring to see how investigative journalism could potentially change the life of another person.”

For other cherubs, the Innocence Project students redefined the value of journalism.

“Obviously, they are not lawyers who go to trial and present the case,” Jessica Lim, of California, said. “But the way they used their words to make everyone else see what went wrong in this case made people question the authorities. I thought it was cool seeing that journalism is more than just writing.”

Klein stressed the importance of fact checking.

“Accuracy was vital,” Klein said. “In the final class, we met at 3 p.m. and we didn’t leave the room until close to midnight. During those nine hours, we went through every word and every line of the story to make sure every single word was just right.”

Takenaga points to perseverance as the most cherished asset she gained from the case.

“It really takes patience to stick with whatever you’re trying to look for,” she said. “It was really hard sometimes. You didn’t want to do certain interviews or felt discouraged because you didn’t get the information that you really needed. But we really learned how to persevere through difficulties and stick with it until we found headway in the case.”

Cherubs found the lecture relevant because of the college students’ ages.

“It was really cool to see that students not much older than me were able to do such important reporting,” Sophia Bollag, of California, said. “It made me realize that in just a few years, we can probably be doing some really neat things and writing things that can really change something for people.”

The experiences that Campbell and Takenaga shared triggered a new wave of interest in investigative journalism among the cherubs.

“Some people think of journalism as the weather guy, sports guy or Katie Couric,” Stephany Yong, of California, said. “To do the kind of journalism they did, I would think you have to be old and professional to pull something off like that. These are the kinds of cases I see on CSI or in a movie. But these students are only a few years older than us. It was actually really surreal because we’re the next generation.”