From a young age, sophomore Morgan Young was exposed to the power of creativity.

One of the forms she chooses to express her creativity through is cooking and baking all due to the positive influence of both her parents as well as her Nana.

“My grandma has taught me everything I know about baking,” Morgan said. “I’m also learning how to cook different things from my Nana and my mom and dad because we all love to cook. So, I am getting the whole experience.”

Ever since Morgan was a small child, she has been in the kitchen. Whether it be baking with her Nana or helping her parents make dinner, Morgan has always had that urge to create and experiment with different ingredients.

While baking is always something she will hold near and dear to her heart, she does not always have an opportunity to get creative in the kitchen. Cooking, on the other hand, is a different story. Due to the factor of time, Morgan finds herself experimenting more with different kinds of spices rather than with sweets.

“I just experiment with different things and different seasonings,” Morgan said. “In our house, we have a whole cupboard full of only seasonings, and there are a lot of options. So, I feel that in my house I cook more because I have more access to it.”

Furthermore, Morgan also loves the experimentation that goes along with cooking. She believes that the rules behind creating dishes are much more flexible than those of baking, which allows her to express her creativity even more.

“People say baking is more of a science, and cooking is like an art because you can add what you want and how you want it,” Morgan said. “I think that even if you’re not really experienced with [cooking], you can still be kind of good at it.”

Thanks to the freedom she has while in the kitchen, Morgan also uses cooking as a way to relax her mind when she is stressed.

“I think that yes, it is kind of a stress reliever,” Morgan said. “I also love learning new things about cooking. When you incorporate things you haven’t cooked with before and try new things, I think it’s really fun. I think when you incorporate things that there aren’t any limits on, and there aren’t any boundaries, that it’s really relaxing, and it helps take away all the stresses of life.”

Along with the ability to use cooking as an outlet to let out both her creativity and her stresses, cooking for Morgan is much more—it has taught her all about the importance of responsibility.

“I think the biggest thing that I love about cooking,” Morgan said, “is that when I was younger, I was the helper. But then, as I got older, they let me [cook] by myself. I thought it was a responsibility type of thing where it was really cool that I could take on something so important, like cooking the meal for our family, and they entrusted me in that.”

While cooking is something that Morgan has an evident passion for, she also has many other passions, including photography and art, which allow her to release her creative side in a different form.

Although Morgan does love drawing and painting—typically through the inspiration of her favorite artist, the famous Jackson Pollock—her true passion, one that she could see herself continuing in the future, is photography.

“I love photography,” Morgan said. “If I had a side job aside from my career, I would take up photography for maybe wedding photos or National Geographic.”

What Morgan loves about photography is that it is yet another way for her to express her creativity.

There have been many who have even told Morgan that her photography is unique due to a particular “eye” she has while she is taking pictures.

“I love finding those angles that you don’t think anyone could imagine,” Morgan said. “I’ve been told that I have this eye where like you never think [to look while taking pictures].”

Morgan sees her art in many ways. She finds her inspiration in ways that include not only nature scenes but also those that are more abstract and intricate. These include more beachy views seen through the use of sunglasses to create a “natural filter” as well as others taken around her cabin.

With all of the talents that stem from Morgan’s creativity and openness to experimentation, she considers them to not only be hobbies of hers but also activities that speak to her character as a person.

“Pretty much everything that I can get my hands dirty—like painting, art, of any type of music, sport, or basically any activity—I’m down for it,” Morgan said. “I think that photography and art, and everything ties into who I am as a person.”