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Exhibit Depicts Professor Jean Claude’s Inspirational Story
Photo by Al Vargas
“Jean Claude’s story is truly inspirational,” says Patrick O’Halloran, explaining his decision to create a poetry and photo exhibition focused on that story, which is on view City Tech this month. “It is the journey made by many of our students – young men and women who had to overcome daunting obstacles to reach their goals.”
In the exhibition, “The Circle of Life,” O’Halloran, a faculty member in the College’s hospitality management department, tells the story of his colleague Jean Claude, who immigrated here from Haiti at the age of 25, “looking for the American Dream and a better life for me and my family.”
“Through this exhibit,” O’Halloran says, “the student body and the College community as a whole will be encouraged to evaluate Professor Claude’s life journey. This evaluation will, I’m sure, help many of them to set high aspirations for themselves.”
The oldest of five children and the only son, Claude had a solid family structure and a basic education, but he soon realized that he would never advance professionally unless he addressed the many roadblocks standing in his way. Getting an education was his first priority – a goal he pursued with vigor and diligence. Among the obstacles he had to overcome were poverty, discrimination and isolation.
After a failed attempt to enter the seminary, Claude completed his associate degree in electromechanical engineering from St. Trinity School of Technology (Port-au-Prince Haiti). His father, now 87, is a farmer who made a name for himself in his community for being the first in his family to have a college-educated son.
It was winter when Claude arrived in New York in 1984, and he found he couldn’t handle the cold weather working in construction. “I started washing dishes and doing prep work at the Heights Café, not far from City Tech, where I found my passion for food and cooking,” he says.
“I volunteered to work at the sauté station after my dishwashing shift was over and during dinner just to learn the techniques,” he adds. “Soon after, I was moved from the dish room to the cooking line. When the chef was hired to be the executive chef at the Russian Tea Room in 1985, he asked me to come with him as a line cook. He also encouraged me to go to cooking school for a formal education.”
After receiving an associate degree in culinary arts and then a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from City Tech, Claude continued on to Webster University, where he completed his master’s in international business management in 2000.
In addition to pursuing his educational goals, he made it his business to gain a wide range of experience in the culinary field This included working for seven years as sous chef at T.J. Bentley’s in Brooklyn, a year as food production manager at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel and five years at the Walt Disney World Company, where he gained experience working in some of the many different restaurants operating on the Disney property, including Disney Animals’ Kingdom and Epcot Special Events.
A gold and bronze winner in international culinary competitions, Claude is also a certified culinary educator and a certified hospitality educator. “In fact,” says O’Halloran, “Jean is much more than an outstanding industry professional. He proved to be a wonderful son who has provided for his parents. He always says that being a good son, husband and father is the overarching purpose of his life.”
O’Halloran enjoys explaining the significance of each of the elements of the exhibit. “Each poem in the Life Cycle,” he says, “tells its own piece of the story. In ‘As My Son Grows,’ the mother speaks about what she wants for her son; in ‘The Provider,’ the father spells out his intention to provide for the family; in ‘It Is Your Time,” the subject is the college professor – this is his special time; in the last poem, Professor Claude’s mother, who has passed, says ‘goodbye’ to her son.
“The poems and photos are all inter-related and tell the story – so far – of the life cycle of Professor Claude. We see that Jean Claude has achieved his life’s goals through academic success and also through the medium of his art. Art,” concludes O’Halloran, “gives authentication to where we are going and permits each of us to pursue and complete our own unique life circle.”
Says Jean Claude: “The exhibit is beyond my wildest dreams. It is not often that you find a colleague speaking so highly of you and recognizing your efforts and contributions to society. From the exhibit I can retrace my journey from a small Haitian community to the permanent instructional staff of The City University of New York.”
O’Halloran became a full-time professor of accounting, marketing and law in City Tech’s department of hospitality management in 2006. Writing poetry has always been part of his life, even as a young boy in Ireland. A book of his poems, Testimonies, translated from English into Gaelic, Polish, Russian and Spanish, was published last year by Pearson Custom Publishing.
O’Halloran’s exhibition of poetry and photography celebrating the life of Prof. Jean Claude, will be on view through May 20 in the foyer outside Namm Hall 221, 300 Jay Street (at Tillary) in Downtown Brooklyn. It is displayed in collaboration with advertising design and graphic arts professor Mary Ann Biehl and her students. Questions should be directed to pohalloran@citytech.cuny.edu.
05.06.09
