While Julie Ann Whitson is known at school for being the head of the health department, she is also a mother. A mother who had gone through a certain obstacle that only a mother would have to face: the need to breastfeed and nurse a newborn child while at school. Even though she hadn’t had the easiest time overcoming that obstacle, she didn’t let that stop her from advocating for the mothers who would come after her. 

“I remember when I first started teaching here, I had a baby,” Whitson said. “I was nursing and I had nowhere to go so that bothered me.”

“I was aware that we had a bunch of nursing teachers and we didn’t have anywhere for them to go,” Whitson said. As you know, the schools were becoming overcrowded, and that means that there were fewer offices or rooms available. So it became a bigger problem over the past few years.”

Whitson had seen and experienced the problem personally, but she had also found its solution while attending a field trip. “I happened to visit Salem State University and I saw this lactation pod and I thought that it would be great if we could get something like that at Everett High School.” 

To do that she needed to talk to specific people. They worked together to meticulously decide what kind of lactation pod to get, come up with a budget, and select certain things needed. “It is very, very expensive. It was about $25,000,” Whiston said. 

In the end they had gotten a lactation pod that was ADA (American Disability Act) approved so that even disabled women would be able to access the lactation pod. Through a long, crammed process of hard work, organizing, prioritizing, and patience, Whitson was able to complete her goal: easing the lives of the mothers of Everett High.

“I wanted to support women and nursing women and make it easier for them to make a healthy choice in nursing their babies who were getting breastfed,” Whitson said. “I am happy every time I see somebody using it so I think it’s had a positive effect. People have a nice, clean, safe place to go.”