Shalom Baer Gee/MDN From left are Lexie Kroeger, treasurer; Shawna Reynolds, secretary; Ashley Schmaltz, and Danielle Vetter. Minot Young Professionals is a Minot Chamber EDC affiliated group that seeks to connect young professionals with each other and the community.

Before the pandemic, Minot Young Professionals (YP) had around 150 members. Now, there are about 40, and the group is working on rebuilding to pre-COVID numbers.

“COVID, like it hit everybody, has hit YP pretty hard, and we lost a lot of membership throughout that time,” said Megan Olson, president of YP. “We’re really in a rebuilding phase.”

YP is affiliated with the Minot Area Chamber EDC as an independent network. Its goal is to connect young professionals in Minot with each other and the community through social events, community service and business development events such as educational lunches. Its website states the group is designed primarily for people 21 to 39 years old, but that being a young professional is a mentality, so anyone who feels they are a young professional at heart is welcome to join.

YP held a membership drive at High Third in Minot last week for its first 2022 event. Members had a social hour, food, drinks and a speaker. About 25 young adults were in attendance. Among them were marketing professionals, a social media manager, a lawyer, an engineer and a maple syrup maker.

“We’re trying to get revamped back up,” said Shawna Reynolds, secretary of Minot Young Professionals and head of the social team. “I’ve been YP for four or five years. I’m involved to just get out there and meet new people, socialize, network.”

Olson opened the event on Thursday and introduced YP and the teams within it that make events happen. The social team plans social events such as networking happy hours or getting a group together to attend a sports game. The outreach team organizes community engagement events and volunteering. In December, it teamed up with the Homeless Coalition to collect hygiene items and food for the homeless. The professional development team plans events such as power hours.

Olson said YP tries to vary its events so more people can attend.

“We like to mix it up. Evenings don’t work great for everybody. Lunches don’t work great for everybody,” Olson said. “Some of them will be lunches, some of our events will be in the evenings, some during weekdays, summer, weekends. We like to vary it based off of the interests of our membership.”

So far, YP has two events set in stone for 2022, a member meeting on Feb. 22 and a power hour on Feb. 15 at the Minot Public Library, where the group is hosting a WHO to speak about financial wellness and budgeting. The event is free to members and $5 for nonmembers.

As for the rest of the year, Olson said they’re keeping things open to what members are interested in.

“We want you to tell us what topics you are interested in,” Olson said to the group at High Third. “What activities or events are you interested in? Do you want to learn something? Do you have a specific speaker that you’d like to hear from? We are young professionals for young professions, so whatever you’re interested in, we can facilitate and make happen.”

For more information on Minot Young Professionals, contact the organization at 852-6000 or visit its website at ypminot.com.