Restaurant Week a Huge Success for Culinary Education

They held a celebration luncheon Wednesday to announce the check donation from over 65 restaurants and sponsors who participated in Restaurant Week Grand Rapids . During the lunch, five students from Grand Rapids Community College’s Secchia Institute for Culinary Education were awarded scholarships from the fund created by Restaurant Week Grand Rapids donations. The more than 60 participating restaurants donated $1 from Restaurant Week meals sold during the 12-day August 2015 event, and a total check for $18,217 was presented to the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education Student Scholarship Fund at GRCC, growing the fund to an impressive $110,906 from 2010 to 2015 since Restaurant Week Grand Rapids began six years ago.

The five students who received the Restaurant Week Grand Rapids generated scholarship awards included:
o Jessica Bloos: Jessica currently works as a pastry cook at the JW Marriott and six.one.six.
- Kara Faasen: Kara is currently employed at Bobarino’s at the BOB.
- Katherine McCann: Katherine is currently a server and bartender at Flanagan’s Irish  Pub.
- Kyle Pellegrino: Kyle currently works at the brand new Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.
- Kaylee Mulder: Kaylee currently works at Reds on the River in Rockford.

All have said the award money will be a big help to them for their culinary training and each expressed individual goals and dreams once they complete their training.

This is the fourth year that students have been awarded scholarship money from the fund established by Restaurant Week Grand Rapids in 2010. All of the funds, to date, have been added to an endowed student scholarship fund at Grand Rapids Community College Foundation to specifically benefit the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education. A proportion of the money has been awarded to qualifying students since 2012.