It's that time of year - College Acceptance Day!

It’s her Senior year! So much going on sometimes I get dizzy. We are so proud of our daughter!

Last July, Olivia and I traveled to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) for a campus tour, baking demonstration and an admissions informational meeting. It was a hot July day and the campus was beautiful, small and inviting.  We had a long day with a lot of information to digest. We ended the day with Olivia applying before we left the demo. We handed her application in, free of charge, saving us a $50.00 application fee. Since it was early afternoon, we made arrangements to meet her friend once her class ended. While waiting, we browsed the campus store and found some items for Olivia. We met Josie who took us to a few of the kitchens to meet some of the chefs. We went into the bread kitchen, I wanted to roll my sleeves up and stay, and met the chef. We did not stay long as a class was in session. On to another kitchen and we met three chefs. One chef took us into the kitchen, working students all around us, as he talked to Olivia. Josie asked permission to let us try one of her desserts she had made and he said yes. He was thrilled that Olivia would be enrolling in the Baking and Pastry Arts program.  He said “I’ll see you in class.” What a nice welcome!

After our kitchen tours, Josie took us to her dorm room so Olivia could see her room which was different than the staged dorm room we saw during the tour. We thanked Josie, gave her a little thank you gift and headed for home.

School started and Olivia began her senior year – class of 2018!  On September 25, Olivia received a large envelope from the CIA congratulating her on her acceptance to the CIA!  The envelope looked like a cutting board and printed in one corner was “you made the cut”.  Clever! She was excited as we all were!  If you plan to go into a field like baking and want to eventually own your own business, you need to go to the best school and the CIA is the best!

Mail started coming on a regular basis and we filed our financial aid forms. Olivia started applying to numerous scholarships and I started making my lists.

Just a few weeks ago, we traveled to the CIA again for Acceptance Day! We attended several informational sessions hosted by various departments, enjoyed lunch and received a gift - a pasta cookbook - since we had already paid the acceptance fee. 

We will be taking her to college in September but Olivia and I will be making one more trip in July for a mandatory weekend at CIA.  She gets to sleep in a dorm and I’ll have to stay in a hotel.  She’s going to have a great time and it’s just the beginning.