Commencement is about marking milestones, and for Adam and Emilie Liebhoff the milestones include 3-month-old Lilly, born during her parents' last semester at Cornell.

The couple also are celebrating their dual graduation from the Johnson School this week and Emilie's new business, a mother and daughter sports and leadership camp.

The camp, Power Sports: Helping Girls Become Independent Women, will launch at the Mt. Pleasant Hoffman Challenge Course, about five miles from Cornell, June 9 and 10. Emilie hopes that eventually the camp will have several locations throughout the country.

"We've definitely gotten a fair amount of interest so far," she said.

After graduation, Emilie, Adam, Lilly and their dog, Rusty, will move to Boston, where Adam has accepted a job as a research analyst. Reflecting on their last few months at Cornell, the couple said having a baby during school was definitely a challenge, although a manageable one.

When they discovered Emilie was pregnant in spring 2006, they met with the dean of students to report the situation. "We didn't know the protocol for having a baby," said Emilie, noting that faculty and administration at the Johnson School were "very nice and supportive."

To prepare for Lilly's arrival during the spring 2007 semester, they both loaded up on academic credits during the previous fall.

When Lilly was born Feb. 2, Adam went back to class the next day, and Emilie, a week later. The couple's opposite class schedules allowed them to be home with Lilly.

"We didn't get to see each other that much, but one of us was always here to take care of Lilly," Emilie said. "Thanks to the Cornell child-care grant, we also were able to have a babysitter, our classmate's wife, help while we did our homework."

As the young family settles into its new Boston home, Emilie will concentrate full time on growing her business, which is the product of a long-held dream.

A former girls-school teacher, Emilie holds a graduate degree from Harvard's School of Education, where she learned about the impact of sports on girls' self-esteem. While living in Boston, she met Adam -- through mutual friends -- and they became engaged four months later. Shortly after they married, both enrolled in the Johnson School MBA program and moved to Ithaca.

Emilie had long realized she wanted to devote a career to supporting adolescent girls. "I think there are so many life skills you can gain from sports," she said. "Like sharing, collaboration, dealing with setbacks and problem solving. All of those qualities go into being a good leader too."

Emilie had had her share of setbacks as a child. She was diagnosed with a receptive-expressive disorder, a learning disability that makes it difficult to understand written language. Never the whiz kid, Emilie learned the value of hard work and also managed to do well in sports, eventually becoming a three-letter varsity athlete in high school and captain of the women's ice hockey team at Dartmouth, where she received her undergraduate degree.

Her new company invites mothers and daughters to engage together in team-building exercises, soccer skills, nutrition workshops, and discussion and bonding sessions. Emilie stresses that helping mothers and daughters mutually influence each other is key to not only a healthy relationship, but to a confident adolescent.

"I believe the only way to truly impact girls and help them become influential women is to also impact their mothers," Emilie said. "Mothers and daughters can be mentors to each other."

Adam, who worked with Emilie on her business plan for the camp and on other logistical and financial planning, will be helping Emilie with the fledgling business. Two other MBAs, Kate Ngo '07 and Sarah Lipman '07, also assisted Emilie with the business plan, and Melissa Hamann, MBA '07, helped put it into action. The couple credit a number of other classmates and friends for making the business become a reality.

"I don't want to take full credit, because I've had so much help," Emilie said. "But certainly this is my dream and the reason I came to business school."

For more about Power Sports: Helping Girls Become Independent Women, visit http://www.powerincsports.com, e-mail info@powerincsports.com or call (607) 319-0724.