Mr. Whitfield is originally from Craven County where he graduated from West Craven High School. He enlisted in the NC Army National Guard and after six years in the National Guard he enlisted in the US Navy for 10 years. While serving in the Navy, he graduated from Columbia College of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts in History and from American InterContinental University with a Master of Education in Instructional Technology.

Mr. Whitfield moved to Lenoir County in 2005 after his stint in the US Navy. He began his educational career as a seventh grade Social Studies teacher and boys basketball coach at Greene County Middle School. He then transitioned to Grade 6-12 History/Social Studies Teacher at River Bend School and later Grade 6-12 English Language Arts/History Teacher at Dobbs Youth Development Center.

After earning a Master of Science in Educational Administration from the University of Scranton, he became an assistant principal at Sampson Middle School in Clinton. The next year he transitioned to Lenoir County Public Schools and was assigned split duty functioning as assistant principal between Kinston and North Lenoir high schools. The very next year he was assigned as assistant principal at Rochelle Middle School, a position he proudly served for three years.

In 2016, Mr. Whitfield was named principal of Lenoir County Learning Academy, where he served for two years. As Principal of Southeast Elementary School, Mr. Whitfield has a strong desire to make a positive impact on the entire Southeast community as well as the desire to help build the capacity of teachers in order to better meet the needs of our students. “I am the number one determinate of the success or failure of my students!” a quote by nationally renowned Principal Baruti Kafele encompasses Mr. Whitfield’s leadership philosophy and he strives to communicate this daily to his staff with the hope that we all form the collective belief, or attitude, that our students will succeed in our classrooms because we are their teachers.