Five World Equestrian Center Chefs Head to Marion County Culinary Classrooms Friday, From Fort McCoy at 7:40 a.m. to Forest High at Noon

The first chef is due at Fort McCoy School at 7:40 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, and the last is scheduled to finish at Forest High School at noon. In between, five chefs from World Equestrian Center (WEC) Ocala will walk into Marion County Public Schools culinary classrooms, where students who are weighing a future in kitchens can ask people who work in them for a living.

According to the school district, the visitors include a pastry chef who was a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist and an executive chef who oversees the resort's 13 dining concepts. They are in Ocala for WEC's Ocala Food & Wine Festival, which runs over the same weekend.

Who is visiting, and what they bring to a classroom

The district's announcement, dated Nov. 3, says the five chefs are part of the World Equestrian Center Ocala culinary team, and it describes a range of paths into the business.

Stephan Holland is executive chef at WEC Ocala. He previously led special projects, openings and development at Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, has worked with chefs including Andrew Zimmern, Martha Stewart, Jose Andres and Nobu Matsuhisa, and now oversees the resort's 13 dining concepts, the district says.

Yohann Le Bescond is the complex executive pastry chef, responsible for the pastry program across those same 13 restaurants. The district lists him as a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker. He trained in Brittany, France, and has appeared on Food Network's Summer Baking Championship, Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking and Beat Bobby Flay.

Gabriel Maysonet is executive pastry sous chef and a chocolatier, educator and co-founder of KKO Chocolate. Kristofer Sullivan, chef de cuisine at Genievieve's, the Italian rooftop restaurant at The Equestrian Manor, has worked at Le Bernardin and Atlantis Resort and as a private chef in Los Angeles. Roland LaCroix, chef de cuisine at The Polo Pony at The Equestrian Manor, has more than 20 years in professional kitchens, including the Wellington Polo Stadium, The Broadmoor and The Biltmore Estate.

Friday's school-by-school schedule

Each chef makes two stops, according to the district's schedule. Times below are the posted visit windows for Friday, Nov. 6.

• Kristofer Sullivan: Belleview High School, 10400 SE 36th Ave., Belleview, 9 to 9:45 a.m.; Belleview Middle School, 10500 SE 36th Ave., 10:15 to 11 a.m.


• Roland LaCroix: Dunnellon Middle School, 21005 Chestnut St., Dunnellon, 9:45 to 10:30 a.m.; Dunnellon High School, 10055 SW 180th Ave. Rd., 10:45 to 11:30 a.m.


• Stephan Holland: Osceola Middle School, 526 SE Tuscawilla Ave., Ocala, 9:30 to 10:15 a.m.; Forest High School, 5000 SE Maricamp Rd., Ocala, 11:15 a.m. to noon.


• Yohann Le Bescond: Lake Weir High School, 10351 SE Maricamp Rd., Ocala, 9:30 to 10:15 a.m.; Lake Weir Middle School, 10220 SE Sunset Harbor Rd., Summerfield, 10:45 to 11:30 a.m.


• Gabriel Maysonet: Fort McCoy School, 16160 NE Hwy. 315, Fort McCoy, 7:40 to 8:15 a.m.; Marion Technical College, 1614 E. Fort King St., Ocala, 9:30 to 10:15 a.m.

The visits are classroom sessions for enrolled culinary students. The district's release does not invite the public to attend, so families without a student in those programs should not expect to drop in. School contact details are on the district and school pages.

Why it matters to students who are thinking about cooking for a living

The district says hundreds of its students are enrolled in Culinary Arts programs, and it describes the visits as real-world, face-to-face contact for students exploring careers in the culinary industry. A resort with 13 dining concepts is also a large local employer of the kind of workers those programs train, which is the district's point about preparing graduates for the workforce.

The classroom visits are not new money for the schools by themselves; they sit beside a fundraiser. For the fifth consecutive year, WEC has named the Public Education Foundation of Marion County as a beneficiary of its fundraising, the district says. Donations support MCPS culinary arts programs through the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department and help bring accomplished chefs to Ocala. WEC's own festival page says the 21-and-older event benefits the foundation's ProStart program.

The festival weekend behind the visits

WEC's Ocala Food & Wine Festival is a three-day, chef-led event at World Equestrian Center, 1750 NW 80th Ave., Ocala. Its schedule on WEC's page starts with the Chefs' Dinner on Friday, Nov. 6, followed by the Grand Tasting on Saturday, Nov. 7, and a Jazz Brunch on Sunday, Nov. 8. The Grand Tasting runs 1 to 5 p.m. at Exposition Center 1 (1284 NW 87th Ct. Rd.) and is $150 per person, with a $3 online service fee and taxes additional. The brunch is $135 per person, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. WEC lists a $425 local bundle that combines the tasting, brunch and the Grand Prix Dining Experience. WEC's page showed its hotel packages as sold out.

Students are part of the Saturday program, too. WEC lists the annual Mystery Basket Competition at 3:55 to 4:55 p.m., in which local culinary students, guided by Chef Roland LaCroix and Chef Jonathan Nicho, cook with surprise ingredients. See the Ocala Food & Wine Festival guide for tickets and locations, and the World Equestrian Center guide for getting around the property.

Sources: Marion County Public Schools news release dated Nov. 3, 2026, on marionschools.net; World Equestrian Center's Ocala Food & Wine Festival page. Visit times are as posted by the district and may change.