As wildfire smoke from Canada enveloped Evanston, Medill staff and cherubs helped one another stay safe and healthy.
Professor Roger Boye, the program director, routinely emailed updates on the air quality to all program members. Staff actively monitored the weather throughout the day.
Meher Sareen of London handed out pink face masks to friends to help combat the effects of the smoke as they walked to and from classes and meals.
“I always overpack, but I don’t regret overpacking the COVID masks,” she said.
Many cherubs continued to struggle with the smoke throughout the day.
“My asthma was really kicking up, and I did not have a good day because every time I went outside, I was coughing. I was really struggling,” Charlie Tobin of Menlo Park, California, said.
Amid the murky sky, two cherubs got creative.
Jack Tergesen of New York, microphone in his hand, face mask around his ears, walked back from lunch to report on the unusual weather and offer advice to social media viewers on how to stay healthy: “Stay inside.”
Sophie Lee of Daegu, South Korea, suggested, filmed and edited the weather report. After five minutes of editing by Lee, Tergesen posted the 45-second clip on Instagram, eliciting likes from over 120 viewers nationwide.
Ethan Chan of Palo Alto, California, followed the advice alongside other cherubs.
“Walking between the dorms and classrooms was the only time we spent outside,” Chan said.
Tergesen later said his weather reporting was part of fulfilling a lifelong dream.
“I’ve wanted to become a meteorologist ever since I was in the second grade,” Tergesen said. “I would always get in front of the camera, make my dad do it, pretend like I was on The Weather Channel.”
“I think it was just a matter of being in the moment and also looking at my surroundings,” Tergesen said. “I would say I used some of the skills I learned in cherubs to help make that independent report.”
