By NOLA L. SARKISIAN

Staff Reporter

USC sophomore Paula Rincon serves as her sorority’s scholarship chairwoman, teaches international relations at Manual Arts High School and mentors a mentally disabled youth.

So what’s the 19-year-old’s career goal?

“My dad’s friend told me you can’t major in Mother Theresa. You have to find a career and earn a living. I love travel and children, so ideally I would love to help kids internationally,” said Rincon, who has a 3.6 grade point average as a double major in international relations and English.

“Ultimately, I want to be happy. I’d be much more content living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment than making $300,000 a year and stressed out of my mind,” she said.

Call them Generation Y, Echo Boomers or the Millenium Generation, they’re the group born from 1979 to 1994. Mercurial, impulsive, free-spending, they defy easy analysis.

“They view themselves as entrepreneurial and independent. They’re seen as young upstarts, the Yahoos of the world, making a fortune while still wearing jeans,” said Edward Winter, founder and chairman of The U30 Group, a marketing firm in Knoxville, Tenn.

At 60 million strong, they’re three times as big as their predecessor Generation X and have an unprecedented technological acumen. For better or worse, much of their knowledge didn’t come from textbooks. They’re learning and creating on the Web.

“They have the power of self-invention, the power to be anything they want to be. The Internet changes who’s in control. If they surf the Web and don’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll create it. They have no barriers,” said J. Walker Smith, managing partner of the research firm Yankelovich Partners in Atlanta.

Many want to become more successful than their parents. Among them is USC sophomore Jeff Klemens, a 19-year-old business and information systems double major who plans to spend a couple years working for a Big Five accounting firm before launching his own consulting business.

“My dad is a CFO for a financial company who plows the hours, but they treat him well,” said Klemens, who has a 4.0 grade-point average. “Your work should come back to you. That’s my attitude.”

Some surveys suggest teens are trending away from the highest paying professions. According to a 1998 freshman survey conducted by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, 10.65 percent want to teach an all-time record compared to a low of 4.9 percent in 1982. Those wishing to enter medicine have fallen to 5.3 percent from 6.4 percent two years ago. Meanwhile, interest in law has fallen to 3 percent from a peak of 5.4 percent in 1989.

“These students are somewhat academically disengaged in that their attention spans are not as long as in the past,” said survey director Linda Sax. “They want to be active and realize there’s more to learning that just inside the classroom.”

Keeping students engaged is a top concern for education officials.

“These students are more pragmatically oriented then they’ve been in the past. They want to study more than one subject in-depth, making themselves more marketable in the workplace,” said Joseph Hellige, vice provost for academic programs at USC.

In turn, universities are responding to student needs. Four years ago, UCLA, which doesn’t have a business major, began offering an accounting minor, an education studies major and a neuroscience major to accommodate student requests.

Caltech began an entrepreneur’s club about four years ago, giving students an opportunity to parlay their science and technical backgrounds into business. It’s now 200 members strong.

Aaron Davis, an applied physics major, joined the club because he believes there is more to a profession then spending life in the lab. “I want to keep all my options open. Financial security is always a factor, but I want to be rewarded or hailed for my brilliant thinking and creativity,” said the 18-year-old freshman.

So, how do companies plan to keep these kids satisfied? It’s a real dilemma in most industries, since Gen Y workers are expected to average no less than five jobs before they reach the age of 28.

“The stigma of a new job every two to three years is gone. These companies have no choice but to be more employee-friendly with more daycare, flextime and equity offering in the business,” said Kim Knight, a search consultant with the Los Angeles-based Employers Group.

Many employers say they can meet expectations and have already changed the workplace paradigm. Mattel has a gym and day care site. Starbucks Corp. offers part-time employees a complete benefits package along with stock options, and Deloitte & Touche LLP gives employees 28 days off and has an alumni program should an employee wish to return.

Jim Smith, managing director of Ground Zero advertising agency in Marina del Rey, believes it’s a small price to pay.

“It’s quid pro quo,” he said. “Enthused and motivated employees are better performers.”