Next time you complain about the part-time job you're juggling in between classes, just think of these three ambitious students: Sarah zooms her way to finish line after finish line, Seth happily creaks his way through adversity, and Sean stays afloat in his work and his studies! Now that's what we call earning a fun living!

Zooming Toward Success
Sarah Fisher, 20, first peered over a steering wheel at the age of 5, and has been enthusiastic about auto-racing ever since.

"Both my parents raced, and when I was five years old, they bought me a quarter-midget race car," says Sarah. "Since they both loved racing, they thought I might love it as well, and I did!"

Sarah, a student at Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN), is now a driver with Walker Racing, and has successfully competed in the Indy Racing League. Although she's a woman in a male-dominated sport, Sarah doesn't consider her gender a challenge. "The Indy drivers treat me as one of them. At first they were cautious of me until I proved myself on the track. Ever since then they've treated me like one of them."

Adds Sarah, "It's definitely been challenging adapting to all of the things that go along with the racing (interviews, appearances, pressure), besides just driving the race car."

A mechanical engineering major, Sarah balances her responsibilities with careful planning. "I'm very good at making schedules and sticking to them," she explains. "When I was in high school we raced 60 times each year in addition to full-time schoolwork, so I had to become very good at scheduling my time. We also have very good people at Walker Racing who help me keep on schedule."

Read more about Sarah at www.SarahFisher.com.

Creaking His Way Through Adversity
On any given day, Babson College (Babson Park, MA) junior Seth Ginsberg may wake up to 120 e-mails from strangers in up to 84 countries.

"It's really tremendous... above all, I'm grateful, but mostly I'm shocked," says Seth, a business/non-profit major, who is also the founder of CreakyJoints, Inc., an Internet company he started when he was a freshman. The company is designed to unite and bring humor to people with arthritis or other rheumatic diseases.

"We think that this irreverence we're bringing to the table really does help, to the point that doctors prescribe CreakyJoints for their patients," he explains.

His own experiences with arthritis -- he's had Spondyloathropathy since he was 12 -- inspired Seth to create CreakyJoints. "I think that it gave me something to do; it gave me a chance to help other people like me."

Currently, he balances a full-time class schedule with a 50-60 hour work week for CreakyJoints, searching for corporate sponsors or planning activities such as the Creaky Joints A-Games. The A-Games are national competitive and non-competitive swimming events for athletes with arthritis.

Seth says the sacrifices in his college years have already been rewarding. "It's just phenomenal, exquisite... there aren't even words for the way I feel. It gets me out of bed in the morning."

Read more about Seth at www.CreakyJoints.com.

Staying Afloat
Sean Koomen, a sophomore at St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN), has turned his passion for all things nautical into a career. Sean built his first boat, a kayak, at the age of 12. A continuing interest in carpentry and wood-working led him to start Red Barn Boats.

"I'm really looking into changing my whole life, and planning a career with this," he explains, encouraged by successful first summer profits.

Sean is an integrated studies major, a program which allows students to design their own academic program. He has chosen to focus on nautical and maritime studies, and hopes to attend a boat-building school after graduation. "It just takes time," he says. "One of the challenges is not being able to say I have 20 years experience."

Ultimately though, he feels the rewards are worth the obstacles. "The best part is the look on a customer's face [when I'm done]. Going through all the correspondence with them and then finally delivering the boat [is worth all the effort]."

Have some time? Read more about awesome career adventures...
Nice Job: The Guide to Cool, Odd, Risky, and Gruesome Ways to Make a Living
by Jamie Rosen (Ten Speed Press, 1998)

Careers for Courageous People & Other Adventurous Types by Jan Goldberg (VGM Career Horizons, 1998)

Yale Daily News Working Knowledge by Julia Kahr (Simon & Schuster/Kaplan, 1999)

Jumpstart Your Career in College by Adele Scheele, Ph.D.(Simon & Schuster/Kaplan, 2000)

Discover the Best Jobs for You by Ron and Caryl Krannich, Ph.D.s (Impact Publications, 2001)

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