Driving past Waterway, you see an array of teenagers washing a never ending line of cars. As you walk into your local Noodles and Company, you see a friend working the register. Even while picking up groceries, a familiar face restocks the shelves across from you.

Lots of high schoolers have part time jobs, necessary to pay for gas, fund a night out with friends, or just to have extra cash around. However, some students have taken it upon themselves to not just slug their way through a terrible work day in a dimly lit store, but put ambition into a job that they actually enjoy and applies to their passions.

Sophomore Brandon Hibbs started his own company during 7th grade.

“I started Hibbs Lawn and Landscaping around 7th grade,” Hibbs said. “I have a couple employees as of now, some teenagers and 20-30 year-olds. A lot of the teenage employees are good friends I know from the past.”

Aiming to put to use a passion for landscaping, Hibbs put a twist on the typical teenage lawn mowing job and transformed it into his own business, stocked with professional equipment and several clients.

“It’s a year-round business, right now I have around 25 recurring clients,” Hibbs said. “I usually work once a week for the lawn mowing and if a client calls me I’m happy to go do whatever they need, even on short notice.”

Juggling school and work seems to come naturally to Hibbs as he finds little problem with finding a balance.

“Honestly it’s not that hard to do both school and work, especially in the winter time when it gets dark around 5,” Hibbs said.

Building a business has taught Hibbs how to use money wisely, whether it be deciding how much to save, what to buy, and determining a price range for his services.

“One mowing usually costs $25,” Hibbs said. “Since I have a riding lawn mower it doesn’t take very long. Shoveling, stuff like that costs around $25-$35. I’m not really saving up for anything like college, I use a lot of the money for better lawn care equipment and I just like having cash around.”

Like Hibbs, sophomore Jordan Chervitz has used his passion to make money and hopefully start a company. Using his knowledge about video making, Chervitz makes freelance videos and is working on creating his own production company.

“My job is making videos for people; music videos, montages for parties, live action videos,” Chervitz said. “I’ve always liked making movies and I’ve always made them for myself because I like to share my own stories, but I never thought that I could direct those talents to people that weren’t able to do the same for themselves.”

Since middle school, Chervitz has loved making videos for school projects, competitions, or just for fun. As his skills developed, Chervitz realized the potential to build a career around his abilities.

“Since 2012, I’ve been making videos for other people,” Chervitz said. “I started with making slideshows for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, it was something people didn’t like to do. I made my sister’s video first and then cousins started asking, it spread to the Jewish community, and then it expanded to musicians and offices and I made advertisements, recorded videos, and even music videos for them.”

Although he loves making films, Chervitz’s passion isn’t necessarily working long hours on company videos. However, advancing in the business requires some sort of income as well as practice for professionals.

“The reason I do this work is that it helps me afford new video gear, because that’s really what all my money goes towards,” Chervitz said. “For example I could buy new editing software, more green screens, lighting equipment, stuff like that. I bought a better laptop and monitor recently, but right now I’m saving up for a much better, much more expensive new camera.”

Sophomores Melissa Finn and Shannon Stolte have been working with Utopia studios since 2014, dancing at parties, organized dances, and bar and bat mitzvahs.

“A senior on the dance team originally offered me the job at Utopia and I thought it’d be nice since I’m doing what I love,” Finn said.

Both Stolte and Finn were brought to the job by senior mentors on the dance team, and now they have expanded to work bigger venues now that they have more experience.

“The job is basically dancing with a crowd and getting people to join in so a basic dancing experience is necessary,” Finn said. “Rarely, we show off some cool tricks that we know how to do but besides that it’s not too hard.”

The degree of difficulty isn’t too high for the sophomores and they get to translate their hard work after school on the dance team into their paying jobs.

”Everything is lead and follow,” Stolte said. “All that was needed is a dance background.”

Although it’s a job Stolte and Finn enjoy, they aren’t expecting a dance career to come out of it.

“In the future I most likely won’t pursue dancing as a main career, but I still love it a lot and I’m still young so you never know,” Finn said.

However, they are still very loyal to Utopia studios and the opportunity the job has given them.

“Even though I probably will not pursue a dancing career, I plan to stay with Utopia for as long as possible,” Stolte said.

While these students have chosen jobs that exemplify their hobbies, senior Josh Rudman’s interest in working as a veterinarian has driven his decision to work as a vet intern this past year.

“I wanted to do an internship, because with this occupation being so hard and rigorous in the first steps in college and on the job, I wanted prior knowledge of the career to make sure it is still something I wanted to do,” Rudman said.

Choosing to focus on future career possibilities, Rudman went to his veterinarian to see if he could intern at his practice.

“He immediately said yes,” Rudman said. “He has actually done this before for Parkway and even had Dr. Baugus as an intern.”

Not only has the job provided him with valuable experience and new knowledge about the job, but it has opened his eyes to other possible fields to study.

“Veterinary medicine is something I would like to pursue but I have also recently gotten interested in ecology, a new passion of mine,” Rudman said.

While most cash-deprived students tend to rush into typical restaurant or local business jobs, a few tend to opt into part-time jobs that apply to their hobbies or  passion, helping them to gain a first-hand experience on what working a full-time job will be like later in life.