The author of “The Other Wes Moore,” a Phi Theta Kappa member and OWN TV host, will speak at the College on Thursday evening, February 19; the event is open to the community.                         

 

February 11, 2015, Jersey City, NJ – The Hudson County Community College (HCCC) 2014-2015 Lecture Series will continue this month when Wes Moore, the author of The New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller, The Other Wes Moore, will appear at the College.  The event will be held Thursday, February 19 at 6 p.m. in the HCCC Culinary Conference Center, 161 Newkirk Street in Jersey City – just two blocks from the Journal Square PATH Transportation Center. It is open to the entire Hudson County community, and there is no charge for admission. However, tickets are necessary and must be obtained in advance.

Born in Maryland, Mr. Moore was 3 years old when his father passed away, and he and his sisters were raised by their mother. Despite earlier academic and behavioral struggles, he graduated Phi Theta Kappa as a commissioned officer from Valley Forge Military College, and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University. He earned his Master of Letters degree in International Relations from University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

Mr. Moore served as an Army paratrooper in Afghanistan in 2005 – 2006, and as a White House Fellow, he was Special Assistant to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2006 – 2007. He went on to join Citigroup, and has since founded “STAND!,” an organization that works with youth in the Baltimore criminal justice system. Mr. Moore is committed to helping parents, teachers and mentors. He is currently the host of “Beyond Belief” on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

In 2000, The Baltimore Sun published a small article about Mr. Moore, who had just received his Rhodes Scholarship. Concurrently, the newspaper ran a series of articles about four young men who had killed a police officer in a botched armed robbery. One of the suspects was a man named Wes Moore.

 

Unable to dismiss the coincidence, the Rhodes Scholar sent a letter to the robber after the robber had been convicted and began serving a life sentence without parole. The two men learned they had many similarities beyond the geography of where they grew up, and their correspondence developed into a relationship that lasted for years.

It also led to the 2010 publication of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, which relates the details of both men’s early lives and the decisions that took them along different paths.

There are a limited number of tickets for the February 19 event, and they may be obtained on the second floor of the HCCC Administration Building – 70 Sip Avenue – Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets are limited to one per person, and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Mr. Moore’s book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, is available for purchase at the Hudson County Community College Bookstores and at the event.  Follow Wes Moore on Twitter: – wesmoore1, and on Facebook – www.facebook.com/The OtherWesMoore.

 

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