EUREKA – Author and youth advocate Wes Moore will discuss his book The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates” at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Cerf Center at Eureka College. Admission is $5. For tickets or more information, call (309) 467-6420.

Moore’s New York Times best-seller examines the life of a different Wes Moore, who shares the author’s name and much of his personal history. About the same age and also raised in the same Baltimore neighborhood by a single mother, the other Wes Moore arrived at a starkly different fate: He is serving a life sentence without parole on murder charges.

Moore’s presentation will examine how small choices can make big differences in one’s life. He also will explore how holding oneself accountable for choices is a quality that can create transformational leaders who can develop a vision and then inspire and empower others to execute the vision. Moore also will discuss how support systems, including networks of families, mentors, teachers, friends and colleagues, have profound and lasting impacts on young people’s lives.

The event is the capstone to the college’s 2012 Summer Common Reading Program that unites first-year students with peers, staff and faculty in a common academic experience that underscores the importance of reading and intellectual interaction for every student at Eureka College, according to Associate Dean of the College Joseph Henry.

Moore’s troubled childhood resulted in his mother enrolling him in Valley Forge Military Academy and College, where he graduated with Phi Theta Kappa honors as a commissioned officer. He received a bachelor’s degree in international relations with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Johns Hopkins University, where he was honored by the Maryland College Football Hall of Fame. He earned a master of letters degree in international relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He was a paratrooper and captain in the Army, serving a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan with the 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division.