The Shadow
Warren Harris
Graduates With 4.0 Grade Point Average
Warren Harris
Graduates With 4.0 Grade Point Average
•
•
Covington native Warren Harris can tell his grandkids how he had to walk to school and never missed a day of school.
That’s because the 1975 Covington High School graduate was recently among nearly 200 students to receive degrees from Greenville, N.C.’s Miller-Motte College.
Harris, 57, the son of Helen Harris of Covington, was a featured speaker at the college’s third annual graduation cermeony.
He stood out not only for his flawless 4.0 grade point average but also for his impecable attendance record.
“He’s had perfect attendance and he walked to school every day,” said Elizabeth Keeter, director of education at Miller-Motte. “That is commitment.”
Harris shrugged off the fact he walked to school every day, saying, “It’s a half a mile. It’s not that big a deal.”
What was a big deal was one of only a dozen students honored as members of the Alpha Beta Kappa Honor Society and was incredibly humbled about the accomplishment.
When officials at Miller-Motte told him earlier in the week prior to graduation that they wanted him to be one of the graduation speakers, “I just asked them if they wanted to pull another name out of the hat,” he said, laughing.
Harris, who graduated with an associate’s degree in journalism from Potomac State College, a division of West Virginia University, has worn many hats.
He spent nearly two decades as a movie theater manager and then worked briefly in furniture sales before enrolling in medical billing and coding classes two years ago at Miller-Motte.
Harris had often thought about returning to school, but the hours he worked were not conducive to attending classes.
“After leaving the furniture store, nothing was coming around,” he said. “I thought I needed a change.”
He found that change at Miller-Motte, where many of his peers also were non-traditional students.
While Harris saw some students who had just graduated from high school, there were others who were older than he is.
No matter what their ages, he said, most seemed serious about their pursuits.
Harris was no different. Though he described himself as a B and C student at Potomac State, he made straight A’s this time around. He also was determined not to miss a class, even though he seldom had a ride to school.
“My car broke down and I did not have a job,” he said. “It was kind of difficult to get it repaired, so I just walked.”
Harris plans to stay in Greenville, N.C., until he gains some experience and pays off part of his student debt, but he eventually would like to move back to Virginia to live closer to his family.
Harris’ daughter, his mother and some of his nephews made the trip to Greenville to see him graduate.
His two grandsons were a little young to sit through the ceremony, but Harris knows what he will tell them about his accomplishment.
“In the movie ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales,’ the Indian is talking to Josey Wales about having gone to the capital and having met all the great fathers there and they were told to endeavor to persevere,” he said. “So I would simply say that I went to class every day because I endeavored to persevere.”
Editor’s Note: Kim Grizzard of The Daily Reflector newspaper in Greenville, N.C., contributed to this article.
