From a cook to an aspiring PhD graduate

The odds are stacked against a cook in the hospitality industry who has no Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) subjects, no formal training and no chances of getting a promotion. Wrong, and June Clarke is living proof.


This ambitious, mid-40s extraordinaire offered a peaceful smile as she engaged this reporter on her journey from being a cook with no CXCs and formal training to now a student at the Oklahoma State University in the United States of America pursing her PhD.

“My mother has 10 of us and my father died when we were young so it was financially difficult for my mother to take care of us. But my mother has always encouraged me to go back to school when I started working to further my education, ” Clarke reasoned.

“I began working as a chef at a hotel in Trelawny but it was always my dream to go back to school. One day, after five years of working at the hotel, I became so frustrated with myself for not pursing my original plan to go to school, and it was at that moment where I said enough is enough” the Westmoreland native explained.

However, her road to pursing academic excellence at a tertiary institution was met with disappointment as some prominent colleges and universities in Montego Bay at the time refused to grant Clarke entry into their institutions because she did not have the requisite subjects.

She remembered vividly that after hours of visiting various institutions and no success in being enrolled, her hope of achieving her goals seemed dimmed with gloom until her sister recommended the Western Hospitality Institute (WHI). At the time, this institution did not require persons to CXC subjects to enroll in any of their programmes.

This was over 15 years ago. Now June Clarke has successfully completed her Associate Degree, Bachelor, Master of Business Administration (MBA) at WHI in collaboration Hocking College (U.S.A) and is currently on her way to complete her PhD in hotel management.

“I was ostracized by traditional institutions but that did not deter me from achieving my goals, I wanted to do this for my mother who supported my decision all the way but most importantly for myself. It is not a matter of if it can be done, it can be done once you persevere” an optimistic Clarke concluded.