Jason Koski/University Photography

Ben Crovella, in front of his fraternity house, Psi Upsilon.

Major: Applied economics and management
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Hometown: Scituate, Mass.

My parents were Class of '82 so every five years we trekked to Ithaca for reunions. I only applied to Cornell, early decision.

The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). I applied to ROTC on a whim and received a full naval scholarship.

I have many fond memories with my fraternity brothers at Psi Upsilon. I have been involved with Cornell Information and Visitor Relations for three years now. Being a tour guide with CIVR actually led me into the student blogging project. We represent diverse backgrounds and try to portray life at Cornell, honest and uncut. It has also been fun working as a teaching assistant for my major's core finance class with over 300 students!

I came to Cornell the typical "undecided in Arts" kid. After taking a business course, I decided to switch my major. I was also struggling with my decision to commit to the military. At the time, I mistakenly felt like I was falling behind my peers.

I always thought I would leave Cornell with that one special professor who really changed my life, but it actually happened more than once. Some of the professors who have made the biggest impact on me are: Brian Earle, Rich Curtis, Adam Klausner, Garrick Blalock, Chris Barrett and Charles Chang.

I was raised in an incredibly liberal household that didn't mesh perfectly with the direction my life was heading -- most likely Iraq. I tend to be "liberal" on a lot of social issues but "conservative" on other issues. It is sometimes challenging at such a predominately liberal university.

I get commissioned the day before commencement, and I will start at the Marine Corps' Basic School shortly thereafter. After the military I hope to go on to business school and work in some area of finance.