Gov. Palin will speak about the importance of personal engagement and leadership on those matters of individual or collective importance to each of us. She will also participate in a question and answer session at the end of her remarks in the Caterpillar Performing Arts Center.

The proceeds from the event will be used for the Washington Area Community Center capital fund and to create new scholarships for area youth. Scholarship details will be announced at a later date. 

Sarah Palin first made history on Dec. 4, 2006, when she was sworn in as the first female governor of Alaska. In August 2008, Sen. John McCain tapped Palin to serve as his vice-presidential running mate in his presidential campaign, making her the first woman to run on the Republican Party’s presidential ticket.

Palin has a long record of achievement and experience in public office. Prior to her election as governor, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council, and two terms as the mayor of Wasilla. During her tenure, she reduced property tax levels while increasing services and made Wasilla a business-friendly environment, drawing in new industry.

Under her leadership as governor, Alaska invested $5 billion in state savings, overhauled education funding and protected Alaska’s natural resources. She created Alaska’s Petroleum Systems Integrity Office to provide oversight and maintenance of oil and gas equipment, facilities and infrastructure, and the Climate Change Subcabinet to prepare a climate change strategy for Alaska. During Gov. Palin’s first year in office, three of her administration’s major proposed pieces of legislation passed—an overhaul of the state’s ethics laws, a competitive process to construct a natural gas pipeline and a restructuring of Alaska’s oil valuation formula.

Palin is past chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a multistate government agency that promotes the conservation and efficient recovery of domestic oil and natural gas resources while protecting health, safety and the environment. She also served as chair of the National Governors Association (NGA) Natural Resources Committee, which was charged with pursuing legislation to ensure state needs are considered as federal policy is formulated in the areas of agriculture, energy, environmental protection and natural resource management.

Sarah Heath Palin arrived in Alaska with her family in 1964, when her parents came to teach school in Skagway. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in communications--journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987. She is the author of “Going Rogue: An American Life.”

She is married to Todd Palin, a lifelong Alaskan who worked as a production operator on the North Slope and a four-time champion of the Iron Dog, the world’s longest snowmachine race. They have five children.

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