Information Systems student Annabelle Baker remembers crying in her professor’s office, overwhelmed by how much more qualified her peers seemed than her. Less than a year later, she accepted a scholarship from the information systems program that those same peers had nominated her for—and she couldn’t help but think of how far she had come.
Baker, from Cypress, Texas, hadn’t initially planned on studying information systems at the BYU Marriott School of Business. As a self-proclaimed “creative type,” she says she never thought that programming was in her future. But to support her sister, who was an officer in the Association for Information Systems (AIS), Baker attended association meetings and says she was struck by how welcoming the students were.
“I met all these people in the program and they had all these unique stories and experiences,” Baker says. Her sister, along with friends in AIS, eventually convinced her to take IS 201: Introduction to Information Systems. “The course taught information that I would have never thought about, but it was super useful and pertinent to our tech world today.”
The coursework interested Baker and felt like something she could succeed in, she says, so she applied to the information systems program and was accepted. But the rigor of her junior core coursework and imposter syndrome began to overshadow the feeling of belonging that drew her to the program. “I felt so much further behind than everyone else because I hadn't taken any computer science classes, done programming in high school, and had no technical work experience. I felt like I was the odd one out.”
That feeling led Baker to seek support from her core professors. Many of the faculty didn’t just give her advice, she says, but instead listened and worked with her to identify her biggest challenges and set goals to improve.
As she applied her professors’ advice, Baker says she came to a realization: If she felt like she didn’t belong and struggled to find a place within the program, there were probably other IS students who felt that way, too. “The people around me also needed a place to belong and a space to belong to,” she says.
So she decided to get more involved in AIS. “Instead of focusing on ways that I might fall short, I decided to focus on what I could control,” she says. “And what I could control was getting involved in my program and channeling what I was feeling into serving others.”
Baker soon applied for a leadership position in AIS and was offered a position as an officer in the women’s section of the association. “The whole focus of the women’s association was belonging for women in a predominantly male major,” she says. “In a place where I felt like I was struggling to belong, I had an opportunity to be a resource to anyone who felt the same way that I felt. That was really cool.”
By the time she finished the junior core, Baker had not only been accepted into the MISM program but was also awarded the Cherrington Scholarship—a peer- and faculty-nominated award recognizing hard work and selfless sacrifice in the IS program. “I had been someone who felt like I was nothing in the program,” she says, “so receiving that award felt like the culmination of everything I had worked for to push past my inadequacies.”
Her journey in the IS program, she says, has helped her see how God has used her unique experiences to create belonging. “In the moment, overcoming these challenges felt impossible, but God was using these challenges to show me who I can become when I rely on Him,” says Baker, who is currently serving as AIS copresident. “Anything is possible with God if you have the determination to pursue it.”
