[ALARM SOUNDS]
On her last weekend, Lucie van Kwawegen of Brooklyn, New York was among a group of cherubs who woke up at 6 a.m. to complete their Spit List activity: writing cards to other cherubs.
LUCIE VAN KWAWEGEN: I did not want to get up. I had had like a late night before hanging out with my friends. At 5:45 a.m. I was exhausted. But then I go downstairs and I’m like, I see all these faces of people who are again, dead inside, and then they know what we’re gonna do, which is writing cards for fellow cherubs. And I was like, well, this is an actual productive activity, and I think that it’s a way to, you know, bring joy within the cherubs community.
[CAAS TALKING]
Spitlisters spent an hour in the Great Room writing cards to the instructors, CAAs and all 90 cherubs. They crowded over a single computer to sign up for their friends’ cards on Google Sheets. Cherub Alice Xiao of Beijing wrote to her close friend Emmeline Chan of Los Angeles, but struggled forming sentences so early in the morning.
ALICE XIAO: My brain’s not functioning at 6 a.m., so I have a lot of grammar mistakes. I was actually pretty moved by the process because I got to rethink about a lot of wonderful memories that I’ve made with my friends.
[WRITING/PAPER SOUND]
Spitlisters slipped their completed cards under each cherub’s door before they woke up. Emmeline called Alice immediately after finding the blue card addressed to her on her floor.
EMMELINE CHAN: I was like, ‘Oh my gosh what is this? This is so sweet of her.’ I didn’t realize till later that it was a Spit List activity. I thought she just felt like writing me a letter and I thought it was really sweet, and she had put a lot of effort into it and had even drawn some like doodles in it that were really cute.
Cherub Lucy Camp of Mountain View, California, received a card from two cherubs whom she had only talked to a few times, but she still felt appreciative of the messages.
LUCY CAMP: I felt like I was noticed a little bit… I was tempted for a second to write a return card to be like ‘hi,’ cause I definitely know that being able to have nice things written about you and nice things written for you … it raises your spirits a little bit.
As cherubs head into the final week of the program, their Spit List cards will give them a way to remember the program and the friendships they have built.
EMMELINE CHAN: Dear Emmeline
LUCIA LONGSTREET-LIPSON: Hi Wen Lusha
ALICE XIAO: Dear Alice
EMMELINE CHAN: This summer program would have been so hard without you. I feel so lucky to have met such a nice supportive friend.
DAISY XIAO: [Daisy speaking Mandarin] “best summer of your life”.
LUCIA LONGSTREET-LIPSON: We’ve had so much fun in this program, walking in different places to get food, eating our cake and mostly hanging out in the basement and doing handstands.
ADELLE PITTS: Have a great winter.
SOPHIA THOMAS: I believe what makes you particularly special, among other things, of course, like your exasperation at the hexagon video game, is the balance you strike between making perceptive comments during lectures and laughing because you don’t take yourself too seriously.
ALICE XIAO: I’m going to miss you a lot, especially since you’re going to be so far away.
[CHERUB THEME]
Music provided by @prettyjohn1 on Pixabay
Keyboard sounds courtesy of DRAGON-STUDIO on Pixabay
