Her smile lights up the room as she talks about living in Grand Forks.
"Coming from a town of less than 1,000, I love that it's a bigger city with a small town feel," said Kylie Oversen.
She first came to Grand Forks six years ago to attend UND. Her home town is Killdeer, a little place in North Dakota's Oil Patch where her parents still reside. She recently obtained a degree in social work and plans to attend UND Law School here in the fall. Not one to sit on the sidelines, Kylie keeps quite busy. While attending college, she served as student body president.
She is employed with the UND Alumni Association as the special projects coordinator, but if being a volunteer were a fulltime occupation Kylie would quickly be climbing the corporate ladder.
She stays busy as a board member for the Red River Valley Habitat for Humanity, a member of the Grand Forks Community Advisory Committee, and a volunteer for both St. Joseph's Food Pantry and the Global Friends Coalition. In her "spare time," she enjoys reading, running and attending the Farmer's Markets. She is a member of Greater Grand Forks Young Professionals.
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Kylie also loves to travel, with a list of favorite destinations including Cuba, Haiti and Philadelphia.
She works hard to help and advocate especially for those in need, evidenced by her most recent endeavor: serving as a state representative for District 42 in north Grand Forks. She plans to combine two of her interests by running her first Fargo Marathon for HERO, a healthcare organization out of Fargo. Because of her work on campus with disadvantaged student populations, Kylie received the Phenomenal Woman Award from the UND Women's Center and UND Multicultural Center.
Kylie is a bright light for the Grand Cities, and luckily she hopes to live here for many years to come.
Heggen is executive director of Greater Grand Forks Young Professionals. Reach her at Stacey@ggfyp.com or at (218) 779-9369. Go to the group's website at GGFYP.com.
