After long, rigorous days of conducting interviews, listening to lectures and writing articles, cherubs needed a way to wind down to end their nights, and a common way to do this was by gathering in the lounges of Jones Hall.
Owen Zeller of Chicago said he was worried about finding close friends when he initially came to the program, but said he was “fortunate” to have bonded with his friends in the lounge areas.
“The lounge, it invites community, you have all these spaces to sit down and all these different places that are meant to be for hanging out,” Zeller said. “We built that community from nothing on day one and made it a really special place.”
There are four lounges on each floor of Jones Hall, the dorm where the cherubs stayed this year. Floormates have been able to use these spaces to sing together, tell stories and stay connected throughout the four-week program.
Ryder Bingaman of Evanston said it was great to “hang out with the boys at night,” and cherishes the lounge experience that bonded him with his peers.
“We all just sit around, tell stories, have fun, have a laugh. It’s really nice because I think we’ve gotten to know each other because of the lounge,” Bingaman said. “If there was no lounge, I don’t think we’d be as close of friends.”
Ignas Petrus of Chicago said some of his favorite memories from the cherubs program have come from the lounge, especially the conversations.
“It’s the place where I’ve definitely gotten closest to the friends I’ve made here,” Petrus said. “We talk about what’s going on in our lives, what’s going on in cherubs, about the assignments that we’re doing.”
Activities in the lounges vary daily. Cherubs are commonly found working on assignments, having late-night conversations or listening to music together.
Bingaman and a group of boys on the second floor often have work sessions in the lounges where they write and report for their assignments.
“We can actually work in the lounge, collaborate, bounce off ideas, and I think it not only makes our stories better because we have input, but it also lets us get to know each other better,” Bingaman said.
The lounge areas are also places of storage for communal snacks and food, often housing a variety of snacks for floormates to enjoy. Petrus recalled a popular example of this being the “cereal bar” from the first week of the program. He and his friends bought boxes of cereal, gallons of milk, bowls and spoons to enjoy on mornings before heading to class.
Bingaman said the table in his local lounge became a magnet for everyone’s unwanted food.
“For some reason, the 70 or so girls that are in this program decided that the boys are the ones that are the people who they give all their food to,” Bingaman said.
Despite all the evening activity in the lounges, cherubs abided by quiet hour restrictions, said Pepper Chai of Alameda, California, who was often out of her room late at night.
“Our floors do a really good job of actually staying quiet and respecting the people that want to sleep,” Chai said.
While the cherubs program brought the memories of experiencing Chicago, lectures from renowned journalists and reporting on the Fourth of July parade, the memories made from the lounge experience are what will last the longest, said Charlie Edwards of Evanston.
“I’ve formed some great connections with people on the floor in the lounges, we’ve had some great memories there,” Edwards said.
