Nov. 18, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Rapids Community College’s Secchia Institute for Culinary Education is planning culinary classes for the GRCC Lakeshore Campus during the winter semester to meet growing demand.
The college has scheduled four introductory classes for students working toward culinary certificates and degrees.
Dr. Werner Absenger, the Secchia Institute’s program director, said the classes were planned to meet the demand of Lakeshore students looking for culinary training, but also from employers looking for highly skilled workers looking for rewarding careers in a growing, evolving field.
While the new campus does not have kitchens, Absenger said the college planned lecture courses to meet the demand of Lakeshore culinary students. There is also potential to connect with Lakeshore businesses to offer courses relevant to employers' real-time needs.
"The culinary courses offered at the Lakeshore Campus allow students to earn credit toward our Culinary Arts Associate's Degree program and several certificate degrees," Absenger said. "But without the stressors, especially for first-year students, and costs involved in traveling from the Lakeshore, to GRCC's main campus, downtown Grand Rapids, where the Secchia Institute for Culinary Education is located."
The new classes are:
- Exploration of Food Service, which will meet 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Mondays between Feb. 27 and April 27. Because of an articulation agreement with the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, students completing OAISD culinary programming will not need to take the course.
- Restaurant Sanitation and Safety, which will meet between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays between Jan. 9 and Feb. 21. Students who complete the ServSafe Manager certification would not have to take this course at GRCC.
- Principles of Food Science, which will be offered between 4 and 7 p.m. on Mondays between Jan. 9 and April 24.
- Food Purchasing and Cost Control, which will be offered between 4 and 7 p.m. on Tuesdays between Jan. 10 and April 25.
Enrollment at the GRCC Lakeshore Campus, 12335 James St. in Holland, during the fall semester has risen about 20 percent compared to a year ago.
The 52,000-square-foot campus, which opened in August 2021 in the Shops at Westshore Mall.