Young professionals share what they’ve learned
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — The latest graduates of the Young Professionals Institute showed off what they’d learned during a press conference held at the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Campus Center on May 18.
Founded in 2008, the YPI is sponsored by MMG Insurance, Momentum Aroostook and UMPI. With classes held on campus, the YPI is a professional development course designed for emerging leaders looking to hone their professional skills. The goal is to teach participants the key aspects of professional success. Using hand-shaped symbols, each labeled with a word that applied to something they learned during the eight-week class, the students created a poster showing how each one connects to the next — innovation, education, economy, networking, in-migration and community involvement.
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
GRADUATES of the Young Professionals Institute held at press conference at UMPI’s Campus Center in May to share what they’d learned during the eight-week course. Pictured from left are: Jarrod Walton, The Aroostook Medical Center; Billi Blanchard, United Insurance Group; Andy Churchill, MMG Insurance; Kathie Beaulieu, MMG Insurance; Richard Schmidt, Katahdin Trust Company; Nicole Bossie, MMG Insurance; Anna Blackstone, Cary Medical Center; Katie Flagg, WAGM TV; and Bill Sweeney, MMG Insurance.
Graduates of the latest class and the businesses they’re affiliated with include: Jarrod Walton, The Aroostook Medical Center; Billi Blanchard, United Insurance Group; Andy Churchill, MMG Insurance; Kathie Beaulieu, MMG Insurance; Richard Schmidt, Katahdin Trust Company; Nicole Bossie, MMG Insurance; Anna Blackstone, Cary Medical Center; Katie Flagg, WAGM TV; and Bill Sweeney, MMG Insurance.
Walton and Blanchard served as emcees for the event, introducing classmates who provided brief presentations on their experience with the program.
Churchill and Schmidt were first up, explaining innovative engineering — using a systematic approach to define business challenges and possibilities.
“The purpose is to generate ideas. The concept is to use lateral thinking — adaptive thinking. You can use a systematic approach to spur more thoughts,” said Churchill.
During their presentation, the audience was asked to participate in coming up with a business concept using varying criteria, including improbable situations such as extremely high income goals for the first year and odd work hours.
Schmidt discussed another form of innovative engineering — one that used “random pictures to spark ideas.”
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
LOCAL BUSINESS LEADERS, who sponsored this year’s participants in the Young Professionals Institute, joined the students for a press conference at UMPI in May. Pictured from left are: Calvin Deschaine, United Insurance, sponsor for Billi Blanchard; Bill Flagg, Cary Medical Center, Anna Blackstone’s sponsor; Dianne Collins, MMG Insurance, on behalf of Nicole Bossie; Kelly Lundeen, WAGM, sponsor for Katie Flagg; Corey Graham, MMG Insurance, Bill Sweeney’s sponsor; and Stacy Shaw, MMG Insurance, on behalf of Kathie Beaulieu.
Again, the audience was asked to take part by looking a variety of photos with the goal of coming up with a potential event to be hosted in Aroostook County.
Beaulieu discussed educational innovations and the economy, sharing a video entitled “Did You Know” that highlighted all the technology that’s come into being during her lifetime.
“Students starting school this year will be using technology by the time they graduate that doesn’t exist today,” she said.
Sweeney shared details of the group’s trip downstate.
“Wow, what an experience. We didn’t have a clue what to expect. On the bus we did an activity called ‘speed networking,’ whereby we had three minutes to find out as much as possible — one minute spent talking about ourselves, one minute about the other person, then one minute to ask questions,” he said. “It’s amazing how much you can learn in such a short period.”
During their trip, participants had the opportunity to meet with young professionals from throughout the state, discussing what affects their local regions and ways to address concerns.
“The end result was we all pretty much came up with the same results and had the same problems, including out-migration. We learned southern Maine isn’t that different from us. It was pretty interesting,” said Sweeney. “It’s something we’ll never forget.”
Bossie spoke of her own experience of living elsewhere and what made her decide to return to Maine and how businesses and communities need to focus on ways to attract new people to their area.
“We need to attract new people as well as getting people to come back. I lived in Florida for an exchange program but my heart was here. I came back for family, school and work,” said Bossie, noting the different aspects of various life stages and how they play a role in a person’s decision to stay here or move elsewhere.
Blackstone credited her employer, Bill Flagg and Cary Medical Center, for her participation in the YPI program.
“I was born and raised in Louisiana, my husband’s from Presque Isle. We decided to move here because we have a child and it’s a good place to raise a family,” said Blackstone, commenting that her mother’s taught in Louisiana for 27 years and how poorly the school system is managed there, compared to here.
Blackstone said she’d applied for over 40 jobs and was having difficulty finding work, when she met a lady from the Wellness Center “who hooked me up with Bill.” Shortly after, she got a job with Cary. Given her work search experience, she explained why an internship or mentoring program would benefit others looking for work. She’s looking forward to putting what she’s learned to good use.
“You lit a flame with us. We really are going to do something,” she said. “I can’t wait for the next Young Professionals class to pick at them. This is a big deal.”
Flagg rounded out the discussion, saying she can’t wait to put what she learned in class and the meeting downstate to work.
“We need to recognize and utilize strengths. Mentorships are a strong component in communities. We need to come together and share ideas. It’s important to find ways to get everyone involved. We need to be aware of a community’s weaknesses and strengths,” said Flagg.
Walton added “It takes a unified effort to achieve superior results.”
More information on the Young Professionals Institute can be found on Facebook; just search for the organization’s name.
