Abigail Ahern
Abigail Ahern hails from State College, Pennsylvania, and is now a freshman in the Gabelli School of Business. She plans to major in Business Administration with a minor in Chinese. It is her interest in business and economics that prompted her to write about the national handicap that is income inequality.

David Buchanan
David Buchanan, currently a sophomore, is a double major in Economics and English.  He combines his passion for both of these disciplines in this piece, which analyzes the deceptive motivations behind state-operated red-light cameras.  In addition to research articles, David enjoys writing literary analyses and drama, and has won statewide awards for his short stories.

Sam Farnum
Sam Farnum originally lived in northern Wyoming before attending Fordham University last fall. He currently plans to major in English and hopes one day to write creatively for publications or other media. Besides paying exorbitant amounts of money for tuition, room, and board, Sam enjoys reading, writing, and playing music.

Robert Koehnke
Originally from Annandale, Virginia, Robert currently lives in New York where he attends Fordham University to study International Political Economy and Religion. His passions include coffee, pop punk, theologies of liberation, and dead Russian writers.

Shabai Li
I am currently a freshman in FCRH, and interested in pursuing a degree in either Art History or Engineering. As an international student from China, I wrote this essay in the belief that the process of obtaining literacy in a certain language is alike for most of people, and hope this piece of writing may be of use for other language learners.

Chris Martin
Chris Martin is a freshman at Fordham University at Rose Hill. He is originally from Chicago and plans on majoring in Political Science. In his spare time he plays lacrosse.

Sydney Morris
Hi! My name is Sydney Morris, and I am originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. I particularly benefited from writing this essay because Susan Sontag’s metaphor allowed me to acquire a fuller understanding of a subject that affects the lives of every one of us.

Lindsay Philpott
Lindsay Philpott is from Bergen County, New Jersey and is planning on majoring in International Political Economy in the Fordham University class of 2016. In this essay she combines her love of writing with her passion for humanitarian efforts in order to raise awareness of an escalating social injustice in the United States.

Serena Robert
Serena Robert, originally from Connecticut, is a current freshman in the Gabelli School of Business. Along with her love of writing, Serena has been practicing martial arts since the age of five. She hopes this essay inspires each student who reads it to pursue his or her talents passionately.

Stephanie Scrafano 
Stephanie Scrafano is a Fordham College at Rose Hill freshman from Lodi, New Jersey. She plans to pursue a double major in Communications & Media Studies and Political Science. Her essay was inspired by her strong interest in politics and concern for the futures of young American women like her.

Samantha Marie Stangarone
My name is Samantha Marie Stangarone. I spent my senior year of high school recovering from anorexia. I missed out on so much, but it needed to be done. I wrote this essay in order to tell of my struggle that almost ended my life. I want to raise awareness about how serious all eating disorders are and how many people struggle with them.

Jozef Venglar
I’m currently a freshman commuter at Fordham College at Rose Hill majoring in Biological Sciences on the Pre-Medicine track. I commute from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York, where I have been residing since the time I first came to the United States from my native country, Slovakia. The transition between the two countries is the basis of my essay.

Charles Watson
Charles Watson is a grateful member of Fordham’s class of 2016.  His interests include diplomacy, philosophy, language, and hot sauce.  Currently considering a major in Spanish Language and Literature, Charles’s principal goal in life is to secure a sufficiently stable and well-paying job such that he can afford, during his free time, to engage through writing the issues that concern him.