By Hannah Davis
The Hospitality and Culinary Academy, currently under construction, will have rooms named on behalf of four private donors.
“In this case, these four groups gave more than $200,000,” said Joe Sopcich, executive vice president of administrative service – CFO. “So, for $200,000, a room would be named in their honor.”
The Ball family and the Regnier family each donated $200,000; Maron Moore donated $500,000 and the Wysong family donated $750,000.
Originally, Senator David Wysong donated the $750,000 to the program seven years ago.
“David gave me $750,000 and asked me to elevate the culinary program,” Lindy Robinson, dean, Business, said. “David never really wanted bricks and mortar to speak of, but I had put together several new initiatives to elevate the program without using any of the money he had given me, and convinced him what this program really needed was a new building.”
From there, Sopcich and Robinson had the task of raising $3 million in 24 months for the Board of Trustees to approve and provide the remaining funding for the new building.
“[Sopcich] and I worked together and we actually raised $3.2 million in 18 months,” Robinson said, “so we went back to the Board of Trustees […] and they committed $13 million for a 36,000 square foot, free-standing culinary academy. There was a lot of work to go out and raise that money, but we did it.”
The Wysong Family Culinary Theatre, which will be used as a classroom, will also allow for guest chefs to come in for demonstrations and broadcasts. It will hold 76 people, but the back of the theatre will open up as an overflow, which will allow for more space.
“It’s a nice linkage between the actual naming,” Sopcich said. “You know the Culinary Theatre is there to broadcast and get the word out, and that’s what David Wysong was interested in—in elevating the program, so it makes a lot of sense.”
The Regnier Family Dining Room will also be used as a classroom, but it will be designed as a front-of-house restaurant to give students a more applicable, realistic learning experience. It will also hold the program’s Thursday luncheons.
The Maron J. Moore Hospitality Library will be a resource and study center full of cookbooks for culinary students.
The Ball Family Garde Manger Culinary Lab will be a stainless steel kitchen to learn the art of cold food production.
Both the Sunderland and Polsky families met the monetary threshold in donations but were not considered for naming rights. According to Sopcich, the Sunderlands were “just not interested in naming.” The Polskys were not considered because they already have naming rights for the Polsky Theatre, located in the Carlsen Center.
Many others donated to the program, including the hospitality program’s faculty, alumni, and several non-profit organizations, such as the Greater Kansas City Chef’s Association, the Greater Kansas City Hotel and Lodging Association and the Greater Kansas City Restaurant’s Association. Robinson noted the expansion of the hospitality program is “an investment for the industry.”
“We think it’s just going to get bigger and better, and also provide new opportunities for students to use the facility and for members of the community as well,” Sopcich said.
Wysong donated to the program in hopes that “it will become one of the best culinary schools in the country, if not the best,” he said.
“[The culinary program is] always in the newspaper,” Sopcich said. “It brings a lot of recognition to the school. It’s just a great program.”
The Jerry Vincent Hospitality Suite, located on the first floor of the OCB, will be cleared out once the new academy opens in the fall. According to both Sopcich and Robinson, no decisions have been made as to how that space will be utilized.
Contact Hannah Davis, news editor, at hdavis18@jccc.edu.