Eila Arkin of Deerfield, Illinois, texts her community and academic associate Ben Shapiro in a group chat named \u201cben^2,\u201d asking when he plans to come back up to their floor.<\/p>\n
The text thread contains two other cherubs, Beatrice Sopko of San Francisco and Natalia Abuladze of Tbilisi, Georgia. Together, their initials spelled out B-E-N \u2014 forming both the CAA\u2019s name and the group\u2019s tradition of staying up late in the lounge, chatting about everything from their upcoming assignments and college life to cherub gossip.<\/p>\n
With Shapiro sitting on a single seat and everyone else crammed onto long couches and bean bags, Arkin said these conversations created some of the memories she will cherish the most.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s probably tired, but he \u2014 and all the CAAs \u2014 are very dedicated,\u201d Arkin said. \u201cThey\u2019ve worked really hard to try to make this the best summer of our lives, just like they had.\u201d<\/p>\n
As cherubs became close to all four CAAs \u2014 Shapiro, along with Ashley Dong, Desiree Luo and Audrey Pachuta \u2014 their own inside jokes and traditions began to take shape. What started off as a GroupMe text from Dong, wishing everyone sweet dreams, turned into a nightly routine.<\/p>\n
Arkin said these small traditions were just another way the cherubs fostered \u201creal friendships\u201d with their CAAs and mentors.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously they\u2019re in charge of us, but they are also our point people in the dorms,\u201d Jake Lubin of Portland, Oregon, said. \u201cIt captures the fun balance between an actual instructor and a 19-year-old college student.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arkin said the CAAs \u201cgo above and beyond\u201d their job descriptions, not only helping cherubs excel academically, but also acting as a listening ear on stressful days.<\/p>\n
When a group of four cherubs put on a sock puppet show imitating the CAAs at the annual Cherubs Got Talent, Shapiro said he was touched \u2014 proud of the fact that students felt close enough to dedicate a whole show to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSitting there and watching that performance really made me think \u2018Wow, I did my job well this summer,\u2019\u201d Shapiro said.<\/p>\n
Shapiro encouraged cherubs to keep in touch with him after the program, whether it be asking him to grab a coffee or texting him with good news every once in a while. He said he values these relationships beyond a mentor-mentee dynamic.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing cherubs is so beneficial in your life,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cThere\u2019s a good chance that one day, one of these cherubs might even be my editor or that we\u2019ll be working in the same newsroom, helping each other get jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Pachuta quoted Dr. Mary Lou Song: \u201cEverything good leads back to cherubs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cherubs explore their close relationships with the CAAs, crediting them for their unforgettable experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":9696,"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":[503],"class_list":["post-8132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":503,"user_id":205,"is_guest":0,"slug":"kayleecheng","display_name":"Kaylee Cheng","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14f475a1a544447804ab7965b37c8e6c80f7950732684f0f9fd8eedfa17a63db?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"Cheng","first_name":"Kaylee","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8132"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10079,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8132\/revisions\/10079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8132"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=8132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}