A stroll around the neighborhood: Graduation and looking ahead

The Brown and White took a stroll around the neighborhood and asked community members for their advice for graduates and essential life skills.

Milo Achey

Milo Achey is a recently hired employee at The Other Side Thrift Shop on West Fourth Street. Achey shares their personal experience in the customer service world.

Q: What advice would you give to graduating students this year?

MA: (The) graduation advice I have is to not compare yourself to others. After high school, I didn’t go to college, so in my head I was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m so much worse than everyone else, and everyone else is doing all this cool college stuff, and I’m not.” Even once out of college, people are comparing themselves to other people getting jobs and opportunities. I say try to look at what you could do for yourself first, and not look at what other people are doing.

Q: What kinds of skills have you picked up in the workforce instead of going to college?

MA: A lot of communication skills. When you’re in school, you’re focused on what you have to do with yourself, but outside of that, there’s a lot of interacting with colleagues and finding the right way to talk about things. I’d say skills that you don’t usually get when you’re just working with yourself in your own mind.

Q: Was there any bad advice you received at some point that ended up not being true?

MA: I want to say (I’ve been told) the world is infinite, but it’s not. There’s very limited opportunities. People are like, “There’s so many things you can do,” and I’d say not necessarily, which was a big shock to me, too. There’s just less in the world than I thought, which isn’t always a bad thing.

Q: What’s something you’ve learned about yourself through your career so far?

MA: I always thought I was an introvert, but I feel like I’m more of an extrovert now, now that I work customer service, and I found that I like talking to and helping people.

Q: What’s been your favorite memory working in the shop here?

MA: I love that we just started having open hours again recently. People walk by, and I can hear them through the door go, “Oh my gosh, they’re open,” and it makes me so happy. It makes me really excited that other people get excited that we’re open.

Matt Hengeveld

Matt Hengeveld is a co-owner of Lit Coffee Roastery & Bakeshop at 26 E. Third St. Hengeveld shared his trajectory to becoming a small business owner and the lessons he learned along the way. 

Q: What have you learned about yourself throughout your career?

MH: I’m very versatile. Jumping into the world of coffee roasting and cafe ownership requires a skill set that’s so varied compared to what I’d learned in school. You’re more capable than you think. The anxiety becomes more of an albatross than it actually is. There’s a healthy amount of anxiety you can have, but more often than not, it’s better to just say, “I’ll figure this out in some way,” and not stress about it.

Q: What did you learn from your early career experience?

MH: I graduated from Penn State in 2010 when the recession was still taking hold. I have an English degree with a focus in journalism. I got a job at a folk music magazine that was on Fourth Street soon after graduating and made it to the managing editor position. Then, I started hanging out with my friend Dan from high school. We both really got into roasting coffee, and now we have a coffee shop. Most people’s lives are very linear, but once you’re out of the schooling system, it becomes much more free-form. As long as you ground yourself with your own skillset, you’ll find your own way and make it work.

Q: What was the best piece of advice you received coming out of college?

MH: It’s not so much your income, what you do or what you’ve chosen as a career path, but your own ability to go home at night and not be stressed about it. The thing I would have told myself is there’s only so much stress you should put on yourself; beyond that, you just have to trust yourself to be able to figure it out when the punches show up.

Q: What’s been your favorite part about owning your own business?

MH: I like the freedom it offers. Being able to say “This is what I want on the menu,” or choosing the decor, becomes more of an expression of self. You don’t really get that in a lot of other 9-to-5 style jobs. At the end of the day, you can say, “I’ve got a coffee shop.” It’s a really great business to be in if you can be a jack of all trades. 

Lucas Gouvalis 

Lucas Gouvalis is a co-owner of the family restaurant Lehigh Pizza on the South Side at 13 W. Third St. He shared his advice for young people in their 20s. 

Q: What advice do you have for Lehigh graduates? 

LG: The best advice I could give is don’t wish away your 20s. Just work hard, have fun, but have a balance.

Q: What was your favorite part of your 20s?

LG: Mine kind of went super fast because of COVID. So I kind of lost about a couple of years, the last good remaining years. COVID happened when I was 25, so for (ages) 25, 26 and 27 – I wish I had that.

Q: During that time in your life, what was the best advice you received?

LG: Just do what makes you happy. You don’t have to have a plan. It’ll come to you. I dreamed of doing something else and then started dating my girlfriend, who became my wife. Life found me. Sometimes life just finds you.

Q: What’s one educational or life skill that you would tell someone in college to work toward?

LG: Just patience. No matter what you do, in what field, you need patience. Because if you don’t, you’re just going to drive yourself insane. 

Q: What’s your biggest motivation for coming into work?

LG: Well, my wife’s pregnant right now, and I’m going to be a dad. So that’s definitely my number one motivation right now. 

Leni Rufe

Leni Rufe is an employee at Wonder Kitchen, which is located at 102 E. Fourth St. She shared job advice for graduates. 

Q: What advice do you have for students entering the workforce? 

LR: Well, hopefully you all get a job sooner rather than later. But don’t give up, whatever you guys do. And believe in yourself. 

Q: Do you think there are new challenges for people looking for jobs today than there were a few years ago?

LR: Yes. Today, as a new graduate, it’s hard to find a job. It depends on what your major is. Some kids can find a job easily, and for others it’s hard. 

Q: What is the biggest thing you have learned from working here? 

LR: So much. In the beginning, I just did food service. Now, I do almost everything. So, be willing to learn anything because sometimes just having common sense is so important.