As the cherubs learned how to report the news, the news cycle continued around them. Several news events, in particular, directly impacted cherub daily life.

The first news to affect cherubs broke July 5 and landed a number of them on the infamous spit list. Halah Ahmad, of Wisconsin was among several cherubs whose curiosity about a murder trial got her in trouble.

“In Fisk they have TVs that are constantly playing news,” she said. “I saw people crowded around, and I saw the Casey Anthony verdict was on.”

Anthony was found not guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony. She was found dead after being reported missing in 2008. Although Anthony was not found guilty of murder, she was convicted of providing false information to police.

Ahmad and about 20 cherubs waited to hear the verdict in the Fisk lobby. Other cherubs worried about being late to class and being put on the spit list. Cherubs are “spitlisted” when they do not follow program rules, such as arriving on time for class. Those on the spit list have to report at 6 a.m. Sunday to do tasks assigned by the instructors or community associates.

“I wanted to know, but I didn’t want to take that chance,” said Ariana Joharjian, of Rhode Island.

Those cherubs who chose to watch the verdict in the lobby of Fisk were late to class.

“We all got spitlisted, and I felt a little bad about that,” Ahmad said. “It was still a really cool thing, because in journalism when something’s thrown at you, you have to run and go report on it. We were all thinking that this is something that’s new and important and happening right now, so we’re going to stop and listen.”

Five days after the Casey Anthony verdict was announced, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid, News of the World, closed because of allegations that reporters at the tabloid illegally hacked into the cellphones of politicians, celebrities, victims of terrorist attacks and a murdered girl.

This time, the news benefited cherubs by providing a classroom lesson. Instructors Sarahmaria Gomez and Stacey Wilkins ran a broadcast lab based on the event, during which cherubs had to write a script to go with preset footage related to the scandal.

“I was not educated on the whole situation before Sarahmaria and Stacey started talking to us about it and telling us that we had to do a broadcast,” said Emma Grubman, of Florida. “My main memory from that was having to write a script to go with the video.”

The scandal upset several cherubs.

“When I heard about it, it scared me for the future of journalism,” Joharjian said. “It goes against the basic standards of integrity.”

The next week, another news event affected cherub life. On July 18, many cherubs watched the American and Japanese soccer teams compete in the championship game of the Women’s World Cup.

“All of the guys went to Buffalo Joe’s, but the girls didn’t want to go, so we all went to Norris, got our Starbucks, sat on the couches together, and watched the World Cup game,” Grubman said.

The American team lost, but this did not dampen the girls’ spirits.

“It was a little disappointing,” Grubman said. “But I think in the end we were just happy that we all came together through watching soccer.”