The original board of directors for the IAMBHS comprised a global group of seven highly motivated women who have shown themselves to be the successful and generous persons Montego Bay High has striven to produce throughout the decades. These women have worked tirelessly and with great passion alongside founder and current Chairman of the Board, Karen Morris-Clarke to further the vision of the IAMBHS. What follows is the first in a series of features that will showcase the achievements and philanthropy of each of the following original board members:

President – Karen Morris-Clarke (Florida)

Vice President – Jean-Ann Turner-Johnson

Treasurer – Yvonne Bernard

Secretary – Sharon Caine (Georgia)

Directors

Marylin Hall (Georgia)

Charmaine Leslie-Jackson

Helen Smart (Wales)

Mrs. Karen Morris-Clarke, founding president of the International Alumnae Association of Montego Bay High School and current Chairman of the Board of Directors, has spent much of her adult life and career in the states of New York and Florida. After moving to the United States while still a student at Montego Bay High School, she completed her high school career in Brooklyn, New York and spent some years in the workforce before discovering her entrepreneurial giftings. In answer to this, in 1992 while still living in New York, she started a travel company in partnership with her mother—a venture she continued with for several years until her mother’s ill health forced its closure.

Karen’s relocation from New York to South Florida came shortly after, and her enrollment in the political science program at Florida Atlantic University soon resulted in her emergence with a bachelor’s degree. With this, she re-entered the workforce—first as an intern but swiftly rose to the position of title clerk at the Law Offices of Weisberg and Associates. This shift turned her interest firmly toward the real estate industry, and after a very successful stint at Keller Williams Realty and Associates—where she earned the distinction of Silver Top Performer in 2015—she launched her next entrepreneurial venture. In 2015, she and her husband Patrick Clarke started their own investment and holding company, PCK Properties LLC. The success of this business has supported her ability to engage in other activities for the benefit of the many communities of which she considers herself a part.

In fact, the knowledge Karen has gleaned over the years working in the travel and real estate industries has been put repeatedly to use for the health and betterment of others. Prior to forming the IAMBHS, she served for several years as Chapter President of the Montego Bay High School Alumnae Association of South Florida. Throughout her years in these various offices, she has worked tirelessly to organize grants and endowments for Montego Bay High School, planning and hosting fundraising events both in person and via the internet. Not only have many gala events attracted philanthropists all over for the benefit of the school, but she has taken advantage of new online mediums such as Fundrazr and GoFundMe to bring her causes even more attention and funding.

Yet, Karen’s work extends even farther than this, as she has encouraged outreaches to other organizations like the Saint James Infirmary for the physically and financially indigent, located in Montego Bay. A current project being pursued in association with the IAMBHS will provide students and teachers of Corinaldi Avenue and Barracks Road Primary Schools in Montego Bay with 50 laptops each (100 total) to facilitate remote instruction during the COVID-19 crisis. With the help of her dedicated MBHS sisters, her heart and hands are always reaching out to help and support her community.