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“I owe a lot to SUNY Adirondack. I use everything I learned."
Tears build in Eileen Caliva’s eyes when she describes the warmth of the oven and the homey embrace of her grandmother’s kitchen as she, her mother and grandmother baked Italian cookies. “We’d bake trays and trays of cookies at Christmastime and give them away to friends and neighbors,” she remembered.
When she had children of her own — sadly, after her mom and grandma passed — she baked with them to carry on those cherished family traditions. “They were 2 years old, up on a stool so they could reach the counter and bake with me,” she said. “I wanted them to learn what I learned and to experience that feeling.”
When her children were young — they’re now 28 and 30, and Caliva describes her daughter as an amazing baker, and her son as a gourmet chef by hobby — Caliva worked at a YMCA. When her husband was transferred to the Capital Region and her children were done with school, she was looking for a change. “I had taken care of everybody — my