 In addition to these and other jobs, Ward dedicated part of his time to Methodist evangelism as a lay minister preaching to passersby on street corners.In 1893 Ward was finally able to accomplish his goal of entering a university, enrolling at the University of Southern California (USC), located in the still modest-sized town of Los Angeles.Ward became an admirer of a young political science instructor named George Albert Coe and, when Coe left USC for Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, at the end of Ward's freshman year, Ward followed his mentor there.