Home > Acceleration > College Grad and Entrepreneur By Age 16

College Grad and Entrepreneur By Age 16

How one teenager combined hands on experience with his college studies.


By Shawn Cohen

Sam Rust is about to finish his bachelor’s degree in business. No big deal, right? The catch is that Rust is only 16 years old.

Rust started working on his degree at age 14 and, by now, is probably waiting for his final grades on the last two classes he completed through distance learning. Yet Rust’s college studies didn’t occupy all of his time—he also runs his own hay business and helps at the family farm in southwestern Idaho.

What It Takes

Good time management was a huge factor that enabled Rust to combine his college studies with his farming work. “I knew when I needed to push hard on the farm,” he said, “you just need to be willing to work long hours when you can’t get away from both.”

There were several factors that motivated Rust to study with CollegePlus! Not only is college expensive, said Rust, “the environment is pretty corrupting.”

His mom Elaine agreed, adding that she knew that CollegePlus! “would challenge him in a good way and build life skills.” She also said that over the past few years, he’s accomplished a lot of ministry-related endeavors, including organizing evangelistic outreaches and running the sound at church.

Hands On Education

“It was important that Sam not only have head knowledge,” Elaine noted, “but that he also gain life application skills.” The Rusts weren’t very worried that attending a college campus would damage Sam’s spiritual walk, “for us, it was just a matter of good, better, and best,” she said, and CollegePlus! was the best way to combine practical skills with an encouraging family environment.

Elaine and her husband Paul desire to see their kids stretched so that they’ll grow in every aspect of their lives—not only in their spiritual walk but in their business skills as well. “We want them to aim at something bigger than what they’re capable of,” she said. “We’re helping him become what he wants to be.”

Looking Toward the Future

Neither Rust nor his parents know what the next step is but they have some ideas. “My goal is to finish my bachelor’s by the end of July,” he said. After that, he’d like to go to grad school and get an MBA with a small business or international business concentration. “Eventually, I’d like to work for a small business or own my own business,” he said.

Even during his online classes, Rust has faced challenges to his worldview that he has talked over with his parents. In a course on managerial communications, for instance, he was exposed to a lot of liberal rhetoric about “diversity.” “Diversity isn’t necessarily bad but it’s overemphasized,” he said. “People are just unwilling to accept the fact that men and women are different.”

One Among Many

While Rust may seem like he’s capable of attaining what others can only dream of, he’s only following the footsteps of the Founding Fathers who preceded him centuries before. In fact, hundreds of CollegePlus! students are proving to the world what's possible when they take personal ownership of their education and get off the world's conveyor belt of education.

Rust understands the need to diversify his skills. He’s currently building a website for his dad’s business and feels like his business degree helped prepare him to take advantage of all the possibilities of marketing through the Internet. “The Internet is growing at a huge rate every year,” he said. In his advertising coursework, he “learned the most effective way to reach an audience.”

Shawn Cohen is public relations manager at CollegePlus! At work he writes a lot and talks on the phone a lot. When he's not working he still talks a lot, reads about the Middle East, and has fun wakeboarding near his home in Canyon Lake, TX.

Apply to CollegePlus! today!



0 comments so far - Leave a comment below

Note: Comments are manually approved by CollegePlus! before they appear. A valid email address is required, but will not be published with your comment.

Name:
Email:
Website: (optional)
Comment: