Jack of all Trades
“ Learning is lifelong, it is not a race”
By Marissa Rodriguez
Clarinda Jack Dean of the Ken Gordon School of Journalism & Communication Studies Photo Credit: Dr. Joanne Lisosky
Dean at the Ken Gordon School of Journalism and Communication Studies is just one of the many accomplishments Ms Clarinda Jack has acquired in her professional life. She started her journey of academic excellence at the University of the West Indies, St Augstine, where she acquired her Diploma in Education and a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts( Honours) in English. After leaving UWI, she ended up working at the Law Library for four years before starting her teaching career.
“ I was blown away by how many students have their own businesses and that is so encouraging, that they have the entrepreneurial spirit. They’ re creating a niche for themselves and are not waiting for someone to hire them. I think that’ s so amazing.”
Ms Jack, whose dream job is still to be a writer, began writing poetry in school. Unable to secure the funding from her parents to attend university abroad to study journalism, she decided to study the next best thing that she enjoyed: literature.
Before Costaatt, however, she flew to the Cayman Islands to teach students at level Form 1- 6 at a Catholic School where she stayed for 3 years till she came back to Trinidad after her grandmother fell ill. She then started teaching at Maple Leaf International School in Trinidad.
Her first experience in teaching started at Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive, an opportunity she admits to being apprehensive about at the beginning.
“ I initially applied to COSTAATT to teach part time while I was at Maple Leaf, but I was asked at the interview to come on as a full time lecturer which I was really happy about because I always wanted to teach at a tertiary level.”
Despite the challenges, she enjoyed teaching at the school and met students of so many different backgrounds. She said,“ At the end of the day, teaching is really about giving your best to your students. If your students know that you respect them and believe in them, they’ re going to try.”
She joined COSTAATT in 2005 as a Senior Lecturer, bringing more than 15 years of teaching experience, and became the acting chair of English and Communication Studies in 2009. She then became acting Dean in 2011, and was appointed Dean in 2012.
One of her favourite COSTAATT moments was teaching the Social
Media Communication class this semester.
She continues to hold fast to her very own mantra that“ learning is lifelong, it is not a race.” She recently graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with a Master’ s Degree in Communication, where she earned a 4.0 GPA.
Caiman Vybe | Volume 1, No. 1 | December 9, 2017. 4