Author Wes Moore is NCCC commencement speaker

National best-selling author Wes Moore will be the keynote speaker at the May 12 Niagara County Community College commencement ceremony.

Moore, pictured, a youth advocate, Army combat veteran and innovative social entrepreneur, is the author of "The Other Wes Moore," a 2011 New York Times best-seller. He is also the host of "Beyond Belief" on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

In his best-seller "The Other Wes Moore," Moore looks at the lives of two boys - his own and that of another with whom he shares the same name - born just blocks apart and within a year of each other in Baltimore.

Moore reached out to the "other" Wes Moore and learned that while both grew up fatherless and had difficult childhoods, their lives had radically different outcomes: one become a Rhodes Scholar and decorated war veteran, and one became a criminal now serving a life sentence for murder.

Moore looks at why two lives with similar beginnings should lead to such extremely different ends.

"Wes Moore overcame many personal challenges and his story is important for today's graduates to hear," said NCCC President James P. Klyczek. "I look forward to the powerful message that he will share with our students in May."