Marco's Restaurant Association is joining with Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology in Naples, to find ways to assist local students with scholarships to the school's culinary program.

The initiative represents future vision, said LWI Foundation member and Marco Islander Monte Lazarus, adding it is hoped the program will benefit local culinary students as well as steer others to future careers on Marco Island itself.

"These graduates could service Marco," Lazarus said.

"Marco would be a natural because there's such a fertile market down here."

Lazarus suggested the use of Marco Island Restaurant Association funds raised at functions like Chefs Showcase be used for scholarships, and it met with a positive response.

"We have money sitting in the bank," said association secretary Lisa Meurgue, wife of Island Cafe owner Denis Meurgue. "At the last couple of meetings, we have been looking of ways to give back to the community."

Culinary student Maria Bama serves while Regina Day, from left, Peter Marek of Marek's Collier House Restaurant and Tara Trevethan look on.

The result was that a contingent from the Restaurant Association on Feb. 3 toured the school, where they were shown around the "culinary lab" by lead chef Jaime Johnson, and then treated to a lunch prepared by students.

Afterwards, Denis Meurgue said the Marco restaurateurs had been impressed with the culinary program.

"They're on the right track," he said. "We should support these kinds of schools, perhaps by offering their students internships at our restaurants here. In that way we could give to the school, but they could also give back to us."

Lorenzo Walker Administrator Denise Duzick told the restaurateurs that graduates could expect to earn at least $4 more per hour after finishing their programs.

In the case of culinary students, she said, an added bonus was that if they chose to study further at Johnson & Wales University/College of Culinary Arts in Miami, they would receive advanced standing.

"This means that if they attend a two-year course, for example," Duzick said, "they might be allowed to finish in a year, which would represent big savings to them."

She added that another plus for the county is that 92 percent of the school's graduates tend to remain in Collier County, "becoming taxpaying wage earners."

Lorenzo Walker's culinary course runs at $3,700 for the 14-month program.

One willing participant is Marco Island worker Darlan Pucci, 34, formerly from Curitiba, Brazil.

Portuguese-speaking Pucci has honed his English to conversational level in the 1 1/2 years he's been in the United States, and juggles his time between attending the culinary program during the day, and working at Publix at Shops of Marco in the evenings.

"My goal is to be a chef," Pucci said. "I love cooking ...

too much."

Duzick said an advantage for culinary students, as well as those participating in other programs such as automotive and medical, is that local institutions such as Edison Community College, International College and Florida Gulf Coast University "articulate" with Lorenzo Walker in that they award credits to its graduates wanting to study further.

"If they complete a program here, they can get 32 college credits at Edison free of charge, for example," Duzick said.

She added that the LWI is at the moment applying to the American Culinary Federation for accreditation for its culinary program.