Angela Cassano 
Baltimore, MD

Baking and Pastry Arts, Sollers Point Technical High School 

Graduated in 2003 from Eastern Technical High School 

I’ve always had a passion for baking ever since I was a little girl. The smell of cookies baking around the holidays still brings back so many memories to this day. Coming downstairs and the excitement in my eyes as my mom and grand mom said its time for you to roll out the sugar cookies will never leave me. These memories growing up fueled my passion for baking and what led me to pursue culinary arts in high school. Being accepted in the Culinary Arts program at Eastern Tech was one of my happiest moments growing up. I had a wonderful experience in the program which then led me to pursue my passion for baking, applying to culinary school after graduation.

I obtained my degree in Baking and Pastry Arts from Baltimore International College in 2005. During my time at BIC I also took part in an externship in Virginia, County Cavan, Ireland where I lived for 6 weeks studying culinary abroad. It made love baking even more. These experiences in life truly fueled what I love. After college, I began as a pastry chef assistant at Goucher College where I in just 2 short years, I became the bakery manager, supplying desserts for the entire campus. I spent 7 years at Goucher College as their baker/bakery manager. After making a career move from the industry in 2015, I applied for the Baking and Pastry Arts teacher position at Sollers Point, having no teaching experience at all. I was so nervous, I always wanted to be a teacher, especially teaching baking. Those days following the interview I was so nervous. I never wanted a job more in my life! Now fast forward to 2021 and I’m currently in my 7th year as the baking teacher at Sollers Point Technical High School. 

Teaching has brought so much joy into my life. Never being formally taught to be a teacher has led me to express myself through baking and be able to teach my students what I have such a passion for in life! My goal when I first started teaching was to not only teach students life skills, but for me to impact one child’s life would be the most fulfilling thing ever. I have achieved my goals! Being the only baking program in the county, my class is unique and just a wonderful space to create! 

I want all my students to have a drive to be in my class. I want a student to no matter how rough of a day they are having to know that they are coming to their baking class today, and that our kitchen is a safe and accepting place. This connection may be just what they need to get through the day. Students who enter my classroom are greeted by one another and by me. It’s common for students to joke, laugh, open up and share in our kitchen. My kitchen is a safe place to create, give feedback, accept criticism, meant to allow us to grow, not only as bakers, but as young people. If you sat in my kitchen and looked around, you would see a stainless-steel room brought to life by personalities, laughter, beauty, and a safe place to make mistakes and learn from them. We are artists in the true sense of the word, we create, and as a bonus, we eat. The world of baking is endless and I can’t wait for my students to explore it!