A grand old graduation

Alicia Robinson

On Friday they graduated. The next step for some could be the

campaign trail.

A group of 15 Republican women from around California gathered

Friday at the Balboa Bay Club to celebrate their completion of the

first Marian Bergeson Excellence in Public Service program. And

celebrating with them was the program’s namesake, a former state

secretary of education, county supervisor and the first woman in the

state assembly and senate.

Members of the California Women’s Leadership Assn., a Republican

group, started the program.

The program, which started in January, included classes held at UC

Irvine on the Constitution, campaign fundraising, public service

ethics and other topics. Students also took trips to Sacramento and

Washington, D.C., to talk with elected officials about what they do.

“It’s very exciting for me because you can see by the quality of

women that are becoming interested in politics that we have a lot of

talent,” Bergeson said.

Students ranged in age from 23 to 67, program executive director

Emmy Day said. Program organizers said there’s even more interest for

next year’s class.

The students learned valuable skills for public service careers,

but the course also helped give them the networking opportunities

male politicos have taken advantage of for years, Day said.

“It’s not so much what was taught, but it’s the connections that

have been made for these women,” she said. “This is what men did on

the golf course.”

The course attracted a mixture of business and professional women

as well as those who work for elected officials or have run for

office.

“I think I ran for my first office in second grade, for secretary

of my elementary school,” program graduate Kelly Hillman said. “I’ve

always been the president of this and the captain of that. I’ve

always liked to talk and people seem to listen.”

An Irvine native who now lives in Newport Beach, Hillman served as

campaign chairwoman for Republican Cristi Cristich, who lost a

primary bid for the 70th Assembly District seat earlier this year.

Hillman now works for Sheldon Public Relations in Newport Beach.

She wants to see more women more proportionately represented in

elected offices, though she’s not sure if she’ll be a candidate

herself.

“I want to serve my community,” Hillman said. “I just haven’t

figured out how exactly that’s going to be accomplished yet.”

The Bergeson program is a valuable platform for getting women

involved in politics, said Carolyn Yellis of Anaheim. She’s a

paralegal and she served as a delegate at the Republican national

convention late last month.

“I gained a lot of camaraderie, a lot of experience and lots of

connections,” Yellis said.

She doesn’t expect to run for office herself, but might like to do

legislative analysis, she said.