I’ve been to about eighty different hot dog places. Now, that’s a lot more than the average American teenager, not to mention the average American. That’s because most people haven’t discovered perfection in hot dogs, or rather, the people serving them. It all started in second grade, when my grandparents took me and my sister to a few places that had been featured in the Star-Ledger’s restaurant review for “roadfood” restaurants, the aptly named “Munchmobile.” ...

I have always been interested in the interactions between people, from the smallest conversation to the grandest speech. Not only have I always enjoyed the rhetorical challenge of English classes, but my selection of Law and Justice as a high school major (and the requisite public speaking and writing projects that came with it) confirmed my fascination with communication. The August before my junior year, a newspaper hit my doorstep. I opened it to the sports section and found myself...

I believe what I study in school should be something that helps me in life. To me, nothing plays a greater role in the “real world” then the connections between people. Therefore, I have always gravitated towards subjects reflecting this, starting by enrolling in my school’s program in Law and Justice and continuing by choosing AP and college classes in subjects like government and history, economics and sociology. Aside from their practical applications, these subjects interest me because they...

In elementary school, my goal was to someday play professional baseball. Around second grade, I realized I couldn’t make it as a pro athlete and turned my career focus to something (slightly) more realistic: sports management. Due to my academic merit and networking with industry contacts, I was able to secure an internship, putting my foot in the door of my dream career’s corner office. That being said, the sports business is a tough industry to work in...

The paper hit my doorstep the August before my junior year. Page S-8, back of the sports section. I open the paper and I’m staring at my photo, resplendent in Mets cap, Citi Field behind me. The headline? Kirsch Has The Write Stuff. It was earlier that month I found out I had won the Society for American Baseball Research’s Jack Kavanagh Memorial Research Award. To provide some background, the Society for American Baseball Research (hereafter referred to...

"Empathy is not simply a matter of trying to imagine what others are going through, but having the will to muster enough courage to do something about it. In a way, empathy is predicated upon hope."-Cornel West, “The Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society” (event or experience that changed your values/approach to life/the world) There’s nothing more horrifying than thinking that you have just killed someone. The thing we grasp least about our daily...

On Struggling with Public Transportation I was standing in Lautenberg Station in Secaucus, New Jersey, when an announcement boomed overhead, canceling my train. I reached for my cell phone, in hopes of calling home and planning a course of action. Of course, that would have been a lot more successful had I remembered the phone. Luckily, Lautenberg Station has one of North America’s five remaining pay phones. Eighty-five cents per minute later, I reached my mother and relayed the...

The Edge of My Map Right now, I’m living in the already-charted territory of youth, where the routes through school and home are clearly highlighted. However, it’s our responsibility as people to push the limits, to make breakthroughs, to discover things for ourselves. There’s no jumping from this ship; it has already set sail. Therefore, the edge of my map, the boundary between uncharted territory and that with which I am familiar, is labeled “the Real World” ...

Envision a 1990s sitcom, complete with cheesy theme song. It’s December, and a couple is returning home from the hospital with their son, Adam. Both are firefighters, but the mother is devoting more and more time to a newly started family dessert business. Dad’s earning his degree at night. If my life were a TV show, this would be the pilot episode. Fast forward seven years. I’m sitting in the optometrist’s office, wearing a pair of...

I am Red Bull* personified; a little hyper, super intense and not healthy in large quantities, but what good thing is? You know that feeling of something left unfinished? That something needs your attention? That’s why I get out of bed in the morning. Knowing that every second something could be taken to the next level, that winds me up. That makes me tick. I try to commit as much of my day as possible to working on completing...

I believe what I study in school should be something that helps me in life. To me, nothing plays a greater role in the “real world” then the connections between people. Therefore, I have always gravitated towards subjects reflecting this, starting by enrolling in my school’s program in Law and Justice and continuing by choosing AP and college classes in subjects like government and history, economics and sociology. Aside from their practical applications, these subjects interest me because they lend...

It's a classic real estate catchphrase, but "Location is Everything" applies here too. That's right - I think Cornell's location in the gorges small city of Ithaca, NY is a major benefit of the University. Ithaca College and Cornell seem like the biggest things around. And that's...

eLab is an incubator for student businesses. It's a selective program that accepts high potential entrepreneurs with intelligent business ideas and a solid model. In 2012-13, I was in the program with Yorango, a start-up developing software to simplify the rental process. We saw that there was a need in the community and we wanted to address it with online tools. eLab provided coaching, mentorship, and advice on how to refine the business model. In the University's earliest days, Andrew Dickson White and Ezra Cornell called upon students to assist in the school's construction in exchange for lessened tuition. This...

Actualizing Your Startup allowed me to earn credit for my startup and taught me how to really run a business. It's the academic component of the eLab (which...

After attaining my MBA, I intend to continue operating my own business. I know it isn’t easy, and nowhere near as glamorous as the media wants you to believe, but I cannot imagine doing something more rewarding. To accomplish this goal, it is likely...