GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The teaching culinary program at Grand Rapids Community College is getting a new piazza that officials say will allow the program to serve more guests and share the story of students’ journeys from Secchia Institute for Culinary Education to destinations around the globe.
It’s a gift from the late Peter Secchia and his family, according to a news release Friday.
“The Secchia Institute for Culinary Education has long been recognized as one of Grand Rapids’ best teaching and dining experiences, and Peter Secchia always believed our students are capable of great things,” said Kathryn K. Mullins, vice president for college advancement and executive director of the GRCC Foundation. “These renovations will create a beautiful setting to tell the story of the Secchia Institute and the opportunities it creates for students.”
The Secchia Piazza is in GRCC’s Wisner-Bottrall Applied Technology Center and will be used by GRCC students, faculty and staff, as well as the greater community as an event space.
Designed by Progressive AE, the renovations will enclose an underused outdoor patio and add a 31-foot-wide, 15-foot-tall, colorful skylight that college officials say will be one of GRCC’s most recognizable features.
Granger Construction will oversee the project.
A floor pattern designed by GRCC artists will evoke the educational path students take from the Secchia Institute to culinary opportunities across the country and around the world.
GRCC’s culinary program was named after Secchia and his wife, Joan, in 2017.
