Show Paula Julander Utah State Senator and Model Woman By Alle Aile Lanza Contributing Writer Paula Julander a North Carolina native turned Utahn is the first woman in Utah history to serve in a leadership position of the Utah sen sen- ate Paula was a guest speaker at Salt Lake community College for the women's studies class taught by Mary Jane Davis and spoke of her full and inspiring life up to and beyond becoming a Utah State senat sena sena- t tor r. r Paula Julander married at the young age of 21 She worked as a nurse for 10 years while putting her husband through college and as a result of their hard work he obtained a masters master's degree and two Together they partnered in a new business adventure that introduced lasers to the medical field in Utah for use in surgery P Paula ula became very knowledgeable about the subject and JiM f w the primary businesswoman v ss m for their company Along with the responsibility to the business came the discrimination of being a female working in a mans man's world which made it difficult for her to do business business business busi busi- ness and be taken seriously Her marriage after 25 years suddenly suddenly sud sud- suddenly denly fell apart when her husband lefther left lefther lefther her with a year old daughter She was vas feeling no less than a sense of desperation and was at her lowest point in life at that time Though she was in a terrible bind her strong spirit spir spir- it helped her develop a plan of action to support herself and her young daughter She knew khew that cooking was washer washer washer her passion in life so she turned it into profit and baked her way into college again finally finishing with a bachelors bachelor's degree in nursing at BYU Julander first became interested in politics with the influence of her father but even more when she attended BYU and was encouraged to give a political speech that she was forced to research and write From then on her life changed drastically When she made her decision to torun torun torun run run for legislature in I 1988 vas i was was' not hot nota hota a widel widely accepted idea in Utah First because she was a woman and second second second sec sec- ond because she was running against fry k LY w C lyn a another woman which was unheard of at the time She came out on top and won the election on the democratic tic ticket on her way to developing a apolitical apolitical political al career Today Paula Julander fights adamantly for her people on health and child care issues her experience as a nurse aiding in making important decisions for our state She is happily happi happi- ly re-married re loves to ride motorcycles motorcycles cles Iles and still has that same old passion passion passion pas pas- sion for cooking and baking Paula is isan isan isan an important role model for women and stresses that we must be strong and take a risk to achieve the ultimate goal in life She could not leave leav the class room without proudly telling her audience that there are 17 women serving in the House of Representatives tives today and that Washington State now has more women serving in their House than men Women have come a long tong w way 5 3 tt throughout the y years years s acid and v we we hope dope to tobe be an equal part of the future of Utah and the rest of this world with a amodel amodel amodel model woman such as Paula Julander to look to and inspire us |