{"id":4291,"date":"2024-07-16T20:22:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T20:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/?p=4291"},"modified":"2024-07-26T16:44:18","modified_gmt":"2024-07-26T16:44:18","slug":"a-love-letter-to-the-caas-how-the-medill-upperclassmen-living-with-us-cultivate-the-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/07\/a-love-letter-to-the-caas-how-the-medill-upperclassmen-living-with-us-cultivate-the-community\/","title":{"rendered":"A love letter to the CAAs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celina Lee of Palo Alto, California, said her most memorable moment with the community and academic associates was spent in the hospital. Eight days into the program, CAA Juliet Allan rushed Lee to the emergency room at 10 p.m. after her entire pinky nail ripped off in a fall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was gracious enough to stay up until 5 a.m. at the ER with me because I hurt my finger,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI really appreciate her for that because it’s not part of her job description.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now the two, who remain close, are \u201ctrauma bonded,\u201d Lee said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cherubs don\u2019t need a hospital visit to connect with their CAAs. Since day one, they have been forming friendships with Gabi Egozi, Juliet Allan, Ilse von Heimburg and Audrey Pachuta \u2014 Medill students who live in the dorm during the program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI remember on the first day I was nervous. I didn’t really know anyone, and I heard Gabi start talking about the NBA and Jimmy Butler, and I knew that we’d be friends really quickly,\u201d said Charlie Perlman of Mamaroneck, New York.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure enough, Perlman and Egozi bonded over sports and life on the fourth floor. Perlman and other cherubs loved hanging out with Egozi in the lounge after check-in. \u201cWe play cards, play poker, gossip and talk,\u201d Lee said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, down on the second floor, Allan wandered between the different lounges to get to know everyone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really fun because there will be three lounges, and they’re all full of vastly different people doing vastly different things,\u201d Allan said. \u201cWhenever I have a chance to sit down or even just stand around and talk to the cherubs, it’s always a really good time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite getting especially close to the CAAs on their floors, many cherubs also branched out. Nina Bowens of Westport, Connecticut, bonded with Egozi despite living two floors down. Bowens and her friends created a group chat with Egozi titled \u201cPost-check-in links\u201d to coordinate their after-hour hangouts. During their time together, Bowens said they’d \u201cgossip and talk about her life\u201d and sometimes spread the word about what’s happening on the floors above.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get to talk, it\u2019s always the best part of my night,\u201d Bowens said. \u201cI consider Gabi Egozi to be my soul sister, my idol and my future self.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Bowens, many cherubs want to keep in touch with their CAA mentors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGabi is coming to visit the city in late August, and I\u2019m hoping I can see her,\u201d Sophie Gardiner said, \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot from Gabi, and I\u2019m hoping that she can continue to be a mentor and friend to me, even as my cherub days come to a close.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cherubs got close with the Medill students who enforce the dorm rules and lead \u2018mandatory fun.\u2019 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":5033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[299],"class_list":["post-4291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":299,"user_id":149,"is_guest":0,"slug":"heathermooney","display_name":"Heather Mooney","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/238589ad8329908e558deb741e387fb39ce2f79805834a16a67fb86ca0781a2a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4291"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7324,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4291\/revisions\/7324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4291"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}