Name: Christy Baker
Major: Communications
School: James Madison University ‘00
Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia
Her Campus (HC): What is your position with Mary Baldwin College?
Christy Baker (CB): I am the Director of Early College Student Life
HC: How long have you been working at the College?
CB: I’ve been working at Mary Baldwin since the year 2000 – that was when I graduated from college. I started off working as part of the night staff, so I lived in the building with the students and helped supervise the dorm nights and weekends. As I gained more experience with student life, my position evolved and became a daytime student life type of position. Then, I worked my way up the ranks to become the Director of Student Life.
HC: Did you always know that you’d be working with college students or gifted students?
CB: It was not something that I had really thought about until my senior year of college. A friend of mine, who was in the same major, was interested in going into higher education administration, and was telling me about an internship she was doing. I was like, “That sounds really cool!” I knew I would love to keep working with students and love to keep working in a college environment because colleges are so vibrant and there’s so much going on; so much learning happening. That kind of made me switch gears. Originally, I thought I was going to work in Public Relations (PR). I had every intention of going back and living in Northern Virginia and working in D.C. at a PR firm.
HC: Do you face any challenges when working with gifted students?
CB: Every day there’s a new challenge, but it’s good. It keeps me sort of sharp. I like to think of creative ways to work through the problems we face. The challenges are there, but the rewards of working with gifted students are greater than the challenges. I guess it’s tough for gifted students who are used to the easy A they could earn in middle school or high school. They come here, and they need to learn from scratch how to study or how to plan a paper. That can be pretty difficult. That’s a pretty big academic challenge. They seem to overcome it really well, though!
HC: What is your favorite part of your job?
CB: I really enjoy trying to make the college experience a really great, well-rounded one. I want to help students find that balance of doing their work, doing well in their classes, getting involved on campus, and doing things on the weekends, making new friendships that will be lifelong friendships. That’s the really exciting part of my job – helping students achieve that balance.
HC: Would you recommend Early College? For who?
CB: Definitely. I think it’s a program for really courageous students. You have 13- or 14-year-olds who are going to move across the country to start college in a completely new place, diving into the unknown. I think that’s really admirable. So, if you’re going to start the program, you need a pretty good amount of courage, and willingness to take a few setbacks if they happen. If you get a C on a paper, that can be pretty devastating, but to roll with it and set your mind to improve is really important. If you’re coming here it’s great to have a network of family and friends who are supporting your decision and who are going to be available to help advise by phone or Skype or however you get in touch. It kind of takes that perfect student. It’s not just a straight-A student. Just being bright and doing well in school doesn’t mean that you’re going to be successful here as an early college student. It takes a really unique combination of characteristics to make a PEG (Program for the Exceptionally Gifted) student.