Meet OCC 2024 Grad: Joshua McCoury

Joshua “Josh” McCoury’s story reads like one of the contestants on a cooking reality show. He started working in a professional kitchen when he was 14. By 18, he was cooking in very prominent metro Detroit restaurants. By 25 he made sous chef. By 30, executive chef.

“I was making good money in kitchens, and I had no desire to go anywhere else,” said McCoury.

But a decade later, he was burned out from the long hours and high stress.

“I loved the food and the business but not the life,” said McCoury, now 43. “I got to the point where I was ready to be married to my wife, not my job. We also have three daughters and I couldn’t spend as much time with them as I wanted to.”

So, when COVID hit and he lost his job, McCoury used this as an opportunity to make a dramatic change to a career in business. When he was exploring his options, he heard about the Michigan Reconnect program. The program, launched in 2021, offers free in-district tuition to qualifying Michigan residents including adult learners such as McCoury who are returning to school.

“The Michigan Reconnect program fit my needs, and it came at the perfect time,” he said. “I was older, and I knew what I wanted to do, so it was much easier for me to commit to it.”

While McCoury was ready to return to school, it was a huge adjustment

“I never knew how to be a student before,” he said. “In high school, I didn’t care. I dropped out senior year and took my GED instead. I spent a lot of time partying and hanging out with friends. I was working in the restaurant industry and making good money, and it was good enough for me.”

When he started at OCC, McCoury also realized he would have to adapt in several ways, starting with technology.

“My first semester at OCC, all classes were remote due to COVID, and I’m not very computer savvy,” he said. “I didn’t grow up with them and didn’t get my first one until I owned my own house. I struggled to learn the technology, but I was determined to make this new plan work. So, I knuckled down and figured out how to crack remote learning.”

McCoury also realized that it’s OK to ask for help. Another area that was challenging for him was math, so he visited the math lab in the Academic Support Center a few days a week.

Along the way, McCoury learned some surprising facts about himself, including that he’s a good writer.

“As a chef, I didn’t need to write much, but in my business program, I found that I could sit down and hammer out a paper, and get an A on it,” he said. “I take pride in that.”

McCoury also realized that while he had worked as a manager in restaurants, learning to work in modern business administration was completely different.

“My only management training as a chef was on the job,” he said. “I came up in the culinary field in the mid-1990s, when people were still smoking in kitchens and many chefs berated their employees. At OCC, I took courses on supervision, human resources management and other core areas of business administration, and it opened my mind to a whole different style of management that’s better for everyone.”

This fall, McCoury will celebrate his 30th anniversary working in the culinary industry. He’ll also start at Wayne State University, where he plans to get a bachelor’s degree in global supply chain management, with the goal of working as a purchaser for the automotive industry.

As for his lifelong passion for food? Still there, but now it’s on his own terms. This includes cooking part time for weddings at a golf course, cooking for family and friends – and exploring new ways to expand his culinary skills, such as learning the ins and outs of smoking food, cooking barbecue, sous vide pressure cooking and baking.

Josh McCoury is graduating in May with a dual degree in Associate in Business Administration and Associate in Arts. He is an accomplished professional who has learned new things about himself in pursuit of a new dream. McCoury joins more than 1,800 OCC 2024 graduates empowered to succeed. Join them in starting your someday, today.