Torrential rains soak Kathryn Crump as she and her niece navigate the piercing winds halfway through Hilton Head Bay. With quick wits, she spots a private dock and waits for instructions. Woosh. The kayak is sucked from underneath her and her niece as they grip the dock for life.

As a Middle School science teacher, it’s no surprise Ms. Crump has a passion for the outdoors. Her wonder and excitement for the sciences started with her love for baking when she was a Girl Scout. Jerry Crump, her father, said she started baking at just three years-old, marking the start of her scientific exploration. Mr. Crump recalled his daughter working as an “assistant” while baking with her grandma, who never used measurements while baking.

“Even when I look back at the careers, you know, a kid that you pick was a chemist, a research chemist, a baker, a pastry chef. That’s all very, you know, things that are in what I say, the sciences,” Crump explained.

Crump continues pursuing a passion for the sciences through baking. “I’ll make pies around Thanksgiving. I’ll periodically do like a jazzed-up box cake, but mostly it’s cookies.”

According to Crumps’ father, baking is a beautiful way to connect to her deceased mother. “The baking came from her mom, my wife, and her grandmother who would bake around the holidays,” he said.

Just as she does with baking, Crump wishes for her students to “take chances, make mistakes and get messy. That’s like, kind of my motto for the classroom, to take a chance. It’s okay to not know, take that chance. You’ll learn.”