On March 14, students, faculty and Milwaukee youth packed the Cooley Auditorium to welcome Wes Moore, author of the dual memoir “The Other Wes Moore,” to MATC.
Dean of the School of Pre-College Education Gloria Pitchford-Nicholas revved-up the crowd before introducing Dr. Burke to the podium. After a few short details from Dr. Burke, the introduction of Wes Moore by West Allis student government vice president, Charles Padmore, was a brief yet articulate welcome as Wes Moore took the stage for his first of two inspirational and moving messages.
“The Other Wes Moore” is an instantaneously captivating tale of two men with the same name, living in close proximity in Baltimore, Md.
One Wes Moore is behind bars serving a life sentence due to the involvement with the murder of a police officer. The other Wes Moore, the author and speaker, is a Rhodes scholar, White House Fellow, Afghanistan War veteran and more importantly a leader on a mission to help the youth across the United States.
During “The Power Within You” presentation Moore stated, “There is a thin line between lives. Life’s not about you. It’s full of others. What are we doing to better prepare ourselves to fight for the others? What are you doing to make humanity better?” Moore tells a story in which many Americans can relate to.
Ventae Parrow, a future Culinary Arts student who came to see Moore speak said, “The message is awesome, motivating, truthful and real!” Parrow relates to Moore’s expression, “You are a product of your expectations.” Parrow explains, “I grew up on the southside of Chicago. I had positive role models to help me along. But, it comes down to choice. There were times I could have done wrong, but my expectations changed.”  
After “The Power Within You” message, Moore enthusiastically held a question and answer session in which he explained, “You cannot talk about decision making without a societal or external responsibility, without understanding at the end of the day these are individuals making their own decisions.”
Moore continuted, “One of the greatest gifts that God gave us is the gift of personal choice.”  
“I believe God blesses people with gifts and people choose how they are going to use them; however, you cannot talk about personal responsibility and personal decision making without understanding how those decisions are being made in a societal context.”
“I am so thankful for my mother. Had it not been for the collective embrace that my mother and family received, and had it not been for individual decisions being made not just by me but a whole lot of people that had influence on the choices I made, that things would be very different.”
Another MATC student, Daniel Preston, explains, “A total of 20 students from my Human Services program went to the event.”
Preston agrees with Moore in saying, “If you think an accomplishment is what it’s all about then you’ve missed the point. Wes Moore’s message reminds me of the people that are helping me now.” Preston further states, “Like [Moore] said, opportunity isn’t evenly distributed, so when the opportunity arises, take the opportunity.”
Vice and violence is enhanced by poverty in Milwaukee so MATC was the perfect venue for Moore to share his highly refined perspective on his life, book and vision for empowering our social structure through our youth.
Both internal and external factors have a part to play in one’s destiny.
The thoughts and routines people develop correlate with what people decide to consistently allow into their lives; no one is born programmed to make right and wrong decisions.