Thomas Aldrich
Tommy Aldrich from Westport, Connecticut attended Staples High School where he captained the swim team and played water polo. His interests range widely from the origin of the universe to the history of the Balkans; from WFUV to the National Football League. His major is thus undecided.

Ariana Cipriani
Ariana Cipriani is a sophomore at Fordham College Rose Hill pursuing a degree in Urban Studies. Originally a Bostonian, she is passionate about urban design, city planning, and sustainability, which drew her to New York City. Her essay stems from a fascination with the way cities grow and change and how human beings interact with urban space.

Morgan Francis
Morgan Francis is a sophomore at the Gabelli School of Business. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, and has always known that she wanted to live in a big city. Her pursuits at Fordham include marketing, Spanish, and global business. In the future, she hopes to travel the world on different business ventures.

Bo Li
Bo Li is a junior at Fordham who is currently majoring in Business Administration. Her life experience has greatly inspired her observations and writing style. After living with her grandparents in rural China for five years, she moved to a little city with her parents until age 12. She then lived in Shanghai independently for 7 years. These experiences have provided her a unique cultural insight and global perspective.

Katie McCrudden
Katie McCrudden is a freshman from New Jersey where she attended an all-girls Catholic high school. She hopes to attend law school when she graduates from Fordham so she can pursue her interests in women’s rights and other social issues.

Anna Passero-Koennecke
Anna Passero-Koennecke is a freshman at Fordham University. She is from Niskayuna, New York and is majoring in English on the Pre-Law track.

Summer Sanchez
Summer Sanchez is a freshman at Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus. She is from Bergen County, New Jersey and plans on majoring in psychology. Her passion for dance, which she has been doing for fifteen years, and her love for her mother have inspired this piece of writing.

Roger Smith
Roger Smith is a freshman at the Gabelli School of Business. Originally from Rochester, New York, Roger enjoys golfing and fishing in his free time. His essay examines the relationship between Fordham students and the surrounding community.

Armando Vizcaino
Armando Vizcaino is a sophomore at Fordham University majoring in economics. Born in the Dominican Republic, he came to the United States at age two to be raised in New York City—the Bronx to be exact. Armando was inspired to write about America’s failing incarceration system as a result of witnessing how ex-convicts in his community face a lack of options and often fall into a cycle of crime.

Dominique Zaugg
Dominique Zaugg is a sophomore at Rose Hill pursuing a degree in English Literature with a concentration in Renaissance literature and a minor in creative writing. She will be studying abroad in England next semester to further explore her major. This assignment asked Dominique to select a remarkable landmark in New York and argue for its significance.