When Rep. Doug Welton finished the recent legislative session last month, he got in his car and drove straight to a debate tournament to coach his Salem Hills High School students.
For the past 11 years, Welton has been balancing life as a public servant in the world of politics alongside his full-time job as a teacher and debate coach. Welton spoke with Serve Daily about his life both inside and outside his work on Capitol Hill. He said that he holds each responsibility at a high level of importance.
Welton also said his journey to teaching and public service was a little unconventional.
“I actually managed a jewelry store for several years, and I loved selling jewelry,” Welton said. “Jewelry’s kind of a fun thing because people are getting married and they’re celebrating anniversaries and other big events. So, that was always kind of fun because when people came into the store, they were happy.
“It was important work, but for me, I wanted to do something where I felt like it had more of a positive impact on society.”
At the time, Welton was thinking about going into teaching. He said that making the transition from sales to education wasn’t an easy one.
“I was making way more money than I would have as a teacher, but I just kind of had that desire to teach,” he said. “And so, I thought about doing it, but I put it off for years as I tried to decide if I wanted to spend money to make less money. It didn’t make any sense, but I felt like that was a place where I could make more of a positive impact on my community.”
Welton said that his decision to become a teacher was also largely influenced by a history teacher he had in high school.
“I wanted to be a history teacher,” Welton said. “I had a really good history teacher in junior high and a really bad history teacher. They were both good people, but the experience made it so I wanted to be a good teacher. It was the really good one who really had a positive impact on my life.”
Sen. Welton went on to get his degree in history education, and he said that when he was applying for jobs, there weren’t many openings. There was, however, an opening at Spanish Fork High school with a two-thirds contract, and the principal asked if he would be interested in teaching Japanese to make up the difference.
As circumstances would have it, Welton had taken Japanese in high school and served a two-year Church of Jesus Christ mission in Japan.
“I said, to the principal, ‘Does (doing this) give me a job?’ And he says, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘Done.’ So, I’ve been teaching Japanese ever since and it’s been a lot of fun,” Welton said.
His first teaching job was in 2007, when he was 30 years old. He soon moved to Salem Hills High School,where he currently teaches. Welton said that during his time as the debate coach was when he said he started to learn more and get involved in the art of constructive argumentation.
“I would often tell my debate students that in the end, debate isn’t a zero sum game where there’s a winner and a loser,” Welton said. “We talked a little bit about constructive argumentation where you go in with different ideas and when you’re done, it shouldn’t be that you’ve got idea A, and idea B, and only one of those can win. Instead, you have A and B, and as we go through this process, the best solution might be the 10th or 12th iteration of our discussion.”
As he immersed himself in this debate world and as he taught history and world languages, he once again had the thought that he needed to do more to serve in his community. Again, he kept that thought in the back of his mind for a little while longer.
“I had thought about entering politics before, but I always felt like I was not old enough,” he said. “I also had little kids and I needed to get to know a little bit more of the world. And so I put it off for a long time.
“When I was about 40 years old, I finally felt like, ‘Oh, you know what? I think maybe I should follow my own advice.’ … So, I ran for Payson City Council.”
This was in 2015, and he won. And for the next seven years, that’s where he served —until the thought that he needed to serve more, came again. So, he set his goals on the Utah House of Representatives, representing District 65 in Utah County. Again, he won. In his capacity as representative, he represents the west part of Salem, West Mountain, Benjamin, Payson, Elk Ridge, Santaquin and Spring Lake.
He said that serving at the local and state levels are “both important,” adding that he “just really like(s) being part of the community all the time.”
“I love them both for different reasons,” he said. “Being a state representative is completely different from being on city council. … When you get to the state level, it’s a whole different ball game. … I do it all on the behalf of the people I represent.”
Welton said that in his position, he does work hard to present bills that have an impact on those in his area of representation, adding that he has a special eye on education. In fact, he told Serve Daily that the bill he is most proud of passing is one directly related to increasing the amount of time students spend learning about how the country is run. That bill was HB3819: Civics Education Amendments.
“My favorite bill in my entire six sessions is a bill that took the American government class, that was a half-credit class, and it made it a one-credit class,” Welton said. “The idea there is we want an engaged and educated citizenry that understands how their system
runs. And they understand how to be involved in and understand the base foundational ideas, the pre-partisan ideas.”
He said that this bill allows the class the time to go over how local governments are set up.
“A lot of people still don’t know what the caucus system is and they don’t know what signature gathering is,” he said. “Many don’t know how your city councils work or how to get involved.”
Welton said that most of his students also don’t know that he is a State Representative because he doesn’t talk about that fact in class. He said that he does, however, find ways to encourage his students to get involved.
“I encourage my students to find something that matters to you and go be involved and use your skills to build a better community,” he said. “I also encourage them to discuss ideas and share differences. And if they tend to all think the same way, I play devil’s advocate. I make sure they know that these aren’t necessarily my positions, and that I just want to get them to think through issues.”
With the legislative session over and school very much still in session, Welton said it’s full steam ahead — until spring break, that is.
And then back at it again.
