Graduation is less than half a semester away, and seniors are preparing to go into the workforce and start their careers. While focusing on a career after college is positive, some of that focus needs to be on the surrounding community, explained Grant Oliphant, president of The Heinz Endowments.

To discuss this idea, Oliphant visited Waynesburg University March 14 in Alumni Hall.

With 200 students attending, Oliphant described how individuals need to look beyond themselves and serve their local communities.

“We have a huge opportunity to change our culture and our society. We have enormous work to do, and we have an enormous ability to do it,” Oliphant said. “My call would be to draw on your own sense of urgency and your own sense of service to recognize the ways in which you can make a difference.” 

If it weren’t for this sense of urgency, Oliphant said, the Pittsburgh area would have never changed. The city used to “talk of the best times as if they were in the past,” he said. With hard work and the attitude that anyone can make a difference, the city has become more eco-friendly and developed economically.

“Pittsburgh has completely changed its mindset. There is now a sense that people are not waiting for Microsoft to come save them,” Oliphant said. “…People are starting companies, starting non-profits and driving social change. It’s the change that I think has defined what is happening in the Pittsburgh community over the past two decades.”

These changes can be applied anywhere in the United States, Oliphant said. By driving out negative attitudes that plague the U.S., he explained,  the social and political change people want can happen. University president Douglas G. Lee,  said students need to keep these ideas in mind as they work for their education.

“It is important for students to have this perspective of career and vocation from people who are in important leadership positions, to talk about their first experiences and share that,” Lee said. “This is a great opportunity to do that.”

Oliphant became The Heinz Endowments president in 2014 after serving as The Pittsburgh Foundation president and executive officer for six years. He also worked as a secretary for former U.S. Senator John Heinz from 1988 to 1991.

The Heinz Endowment president never knew he would hold such a title in school. Originally, law school was his goal while in high school, but eventually, he decided it wasn’t for him. He then went to school for communications. Oliphant said he didn’t know he would end up in politics until after he graduated. Lee and Oliphant said the path of unexpected opportunities is normal for some students.

“You all have a high expectation of yourselves,” Lee said. “You just need to say, like Oliphant said, to take a step back and know it’s going to be a journey. You are going to be fine and don’t worry about it. Just go with it and persevere.”