2024 Graduation

2024 COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

Reverend H. Maurice Barnes is a native of Wilson, NC. After graduating from Ralph L. Fike High School, he went on to graduate from Wilson County Technical Institute–now Wilson Community College (Wilson, NC), Shaw University (Raleigh, NC), and Duke University (Durham, NC).

When he returned to Wilson in the early 1990s, Rev. Barnes served Wilson Community College as a Counselor & Student Activities Director. For the past 26 years, he has served as Pastor of the historic White Rock Presbyterian Church, (Kinston, NC), and he recently assumed the role of Transitional Minister at Calvary Presbyterian Church, (Wilson, NC). In February of 2022, he retired from the Wilson County school system, where he served as Coordinator of the Gentlemen’s Agreement program, and led the district’s Equity & Inclusion Initiative.

In July of 2021, Rev. Barnes founded the Gertrude Wilson and William Pal Barnes, Fred Douglas Ellis, and Dorothy Lee Pender Educational Foundation, and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. The Foundation is a non-profit organization that endows scholarships and supports various educational endeavors. Named in honor of his adoptive and biological parents, the Foundation reflects his profound gratitude for the sacrifices his parents made to ensure that he received the best education possible.

Committed to community service, he has served as a member or in leadership positions on various boards, commissions, and organizations including Hope Station, the United Way, Sallie B. Howard School of Arts & Science, the Black Caucus of New Hope Presbytery, and the NAACP (National Association of Colored People) of both Wilson and Lenoir counties.

Rev. Barnes’ international travels have led him to visit countries such as Jordan, Greece, Egypt, Mexico, and Iraq, on missions of peace and justice, as well as travel/study tours of these and other international locations. He has authored and published the following books: Some Pre-Marital Points to Ponder (2018), Lord, Teach Us to Pray… (2020), and My Self Portrait…of Poetic Reflections (2022).

He also has two daughters, Maurissa Imani Barnes, and Jimesha Zawadi Barnes. They are the apples of his eye.

More important than where he has been or what he has been blessed to experience, Rev. Barnes believes that “… in the final analysis, only what we do for Christ will last! We’ve all been gifted with graces and abilities to make the world a better place than when we first arrived…to God be the glory for the things He has done and is doing in the lives of all His children!”