"My mom always tells the story," said Ms. Crane. "I was the one keeping my skis parallel, going as fast as I could down the hill."

Ms. Crane said her mother was nervous because of her thrill-seeking ways at such a young age.

Her adventurous nature has not changed since then - the 21-year-old UConn student is one of 50 finalists in line for the Best Job in the World - Hamilton Island caretaker on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

The application process works like this: Tourism Queensland will choose 10 people from the pool of 50 applicants. The 11th applicant will be chosen by a wild card vote.

Anyone with a valid e-mail address may go to www.islandreefjob.com and vote for an applicant once a day. The deadline for the wild card voting is Tuesday, March 24.

The candidate with the most votes will become the 11th applicant for the job. The 11 candidates will be announced on Thursday, April 2.

The candidates will undergo an interview process beginning Sunday, May 3, and the chosen employee will be announced on Wednesday, May 6. The chosen island caretaker's first day on the job will be Wednesday, July 1.

Job duties include feeding the fish, getting mail for the island, and connecting with people all over the world via blogs, photographs and video diaries online.

While Ms. Crane said she may not have the same professional experience as other candidates, due to her age, she said she does have a lot of the same skills.

"The whole point of being a leader is to notify people of a common goal," she said.

In this case, the goal is to entice people to see the area for themselves.

Ms. Crane's skills include diving - she received her advanced certification in diving when she studied abroad in Australia for five months. She credits the Future Farmers of America, or FFA, at Nonnewaug High School for giving her a strong base set of skills to build upon.

"My public speaking training there helped me so much," she said. "I had that to lean on."

Ms. Crane served as the president of the Woodbury FFA chapter when she was a junior at Nonnewaug High School. She graduated in 2006 and competed in national FFA conventions while in high school. She said she still gets excited to compete in conventions.

Ms. Crane is competing in Pi Sigma Epsilon's annual Pro-Am Sell-A-Thon, a national competition in selling. Pi Sigma Epsilon is a national, professional, co-educational fraternity in marketing, sales management and selling.

At UConn, Ms. Crane is the marketing and advertising chairperson of the Student Union Board of Governors. The Student Union is responsible for organizing events on campus. Ms. Crane said approximately 300 events take place a year. Her duties include promoting the events.

In addition to professional skills, Ms. Crane said she has time on her side too. "I also have the spunk of youth," she said with a laugh. "I can be very versatile. I can handle being up all day, all night and all day."

Ms. Crane, a marketing major at UConn, first heard about the contest through her father. He sent an e-mail with the subject line: "Sandi, quit school, I found the job for you."

"Obviously, I would never quit school," Ms. Crane said. "My father wouldn't let me and I wouldn't want to."

When Ms. Crane graduates in 2010, she will have a bachelor of science degree in business administration with a major in marketing, a minor in international studies and a concentration in professional selling.

If she is hired for the island caretaker job, she would take one semester off and then return to school.

She said the potential to be an island caretaker is exciting and intimidating. Compared to some of the other top 50 candidates, Ms. Crane said her video was obviously not done using high tech equipment or studios. She feels that will help her in the contest, not hinder her.

"I think that's a good thing for me," she said. "Whoever the island caretaker is, people have to be able to relate to them."

The island caretaker will live at Blue Pearl, a three-bedroom home on Hamilton Island featuring views of the Whitsunday Islands, modern facilities and furnishings.

Blue Pearl has two bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, a state-of-the-art entertainment system, ceiling fans, air-conditioning and laundry facilities.

Blue Pearl's outdoor areas feature a private plunge pool and spa, sun lounges, large balconies and the traditional Aussie barbecue. A golf buggy is also included with the house for exploring the island.

Ms. Crane has the option of bringing friends or family with her to Australia.

She said her family and friends would visit throughout the experience, if she received the position.

"I could show people the family aspect of it and the 20-something aspect of it, when my friends came to visit," she said.

The six-month position has other perks besides paradise. The salary is $150,000 in Australian currency, or approximately $98,220 in American currency.

In order to become a candidate for the job, applicants had to submit a 60-second video to Tourism Queensland. Using a laptop and recording equipment, Ms. Crane taped and edited footage by herself for the video she sent to Tourism Queensland.

A 60-second video was not a lot of time to show the two sides of herself she wanted to convey - her professional self and her adventure-seeking, fun-loving self.

Ms. Crane knew she wanted to share information on her public speaking training, her five months studying abroad in Australia, and her marketing skills. She spoke in a voice-over about her professional background and saved the visual aspect of the video for the fun-loving part.

Presenting a love of scuba diving when there is snow on the ground in New England can be challenging. Ms. Crane found two creative ways to do it - she videotaped herself behind a fish tank and then took to the snow with vigor.

She donned a bikini bottom, a warm vest and a hunter's cap, and proceeded to tape herself going through of the motions of swimming - in snow.

Pictures of Ms. Crane scuba diving and bungee jumping were flashed across the screen to show some of the adventures she has experienced.

At first, Ms. Crane said she was not going to tell her friends about the video she submitted. "Then I thought, 'Go big or go home,'" she said.

Her home is admittedly a small town. The video she sent to Tourism Queensland shows wooden fences and open fields in the background, quintessential New England scenes. Those who think big almost always ask themselves the same question Ms. Crane asked.

"Does a little girl from Connecticut even have a chance with something like this?" she said.

Yes, she does.