Jesse Saperstein is a native of Pleasant Valley, NY and is a 2000 graduate of Arlington High School in Lagrangeville, NY.

Jesse holds a bachelor of arts degree cum laude from Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. His major was English, and his minor was Peer Education in Human Relations. While at HWS, he was involved in the Orange Key Honorary Society, was a residential advisor for the AIDS awareness house, and brought Joey DiPaolo and Carol DiPaolo to campus through a campus lecture series.

While the DiPaolos visited Hobart & William Smith Colleges, he asked them if they would be interested in incorporating his hike into a major fund-raiser for their organization. Jesse's goal is to complete the AT and raise $100,000 for Camp TLC. Through this hike, he hopes that it promote AIDS Awareness (a cause that has become extremely important to him over the last year) and reinforce the grim fact that AIDS is still a problem despite its downplay in the national media.

Jesse sums up his upcoming journey on the Appalachian Trail with two unique motivational quotes. Michael Jordan originally spoke the immortal words, "You miss one hundred percent of all shots you don't take." A Chinese proverb says, "The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." The AT is a little over two thousand miles, but he plans to give it his "best shot."