SEQUIM — If you make a mistake, your life isn’t over, Port Angeles attorney Karen Unger told a group of 80 girls from Sequim High School during a Women In Networks luncheon last week.
“You can always pick yourself up and get back on course to achieve great things,” Unger, a criminal defense attorney, said at the Sequim High School Women In Networks — or WIN — program’s annual luncheon, held at the school’s library Wednesday.
“You will have doors shut . . . but there will always be more doors to open,” added Jefferson County District Judge Jill Landes, who was first elected to the bench in 2006 after working as a deputy prosecutor in Clallam, Jefferson and Pierce counties and who was re-elected in 2010.
Unger and Landes were among the six successful women working within law who spoke at the luncheon, which had the theme of “Women in Law,” said Mitzi Sanders, Sequim High School WIN Program director.
Other guest speakers were:
■ Appellate Court Judge Robin Hunt, a resident of Kitsap County who first took office in January 1997 and who was reelected in 2002 and 2008.
■ Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly of Port Angeles, who is now in her third term of office.
■ Pam Loginsky, staff attorney with the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, based in Olympia.
■ Deborah Nelson, a trial attorney with homes in Seattle and Sequim, who has been named a Super Lawyer by Washington Law & Politics magazine every year since 2003, received the Distinguished Service Award from the Clallam Pro Bono Lawyers and was awarded the Woman of Distinction Award by Soroptimist International.
“The speakers are amazing, powerful, successful women who work hard and are passionate about their careers,” Sanders said.
“We so appreciate them taking time out of their busy schedules to share their personal stories with the girls,” she added.
“Their messages lifted and inspired their young female audience.”
The speakers told the students how they came into their careers, gave advice to the high school students, and answered an array of questions, Sanders said.
They advised students that if they don’t know exactly what career field to go into, they should focus on grades and explore their options — and most importantly, work within careers in which they feel passionate, Sanders said.
The Sequim High School Women In Networks — or WIN — program, which was initially created through a Carl Perkins
Federal Gender Equity Grant, holds several
events each school year, including themed career panel luncheons, college campus tours and visits to a variety of nontraditional career sites.
The purpose of the program, she said, is to enable girls from the local rural area to explore non-traditional career and education opportunities and expose them to positive female role models.
The program is open to all Sequim High School girls and runs in partnership with Soroptimist International of Sequim.
This year the program celebrates its 15th year and has served nearly 2,000 students, Sanders said.
