MHS student DJ Smith, shown with his mother, State Rep. Heather Keeler, has received the Awesome Foundation’s October award to produce a video on contemporary indigenous people.

A Moorhead boy who was among residents who asked the city to create Indigenous Peoples Day has received a $1,000 grant from the Awesome Foundation to tell the story of modern indigenous residents.
DJ Smith received the October award from the local foundation, which supports innovative projects in the community. He was 12 when he joined Moorhead petitioners in 2019 to rename and repurpose Columbus Day. Five years later, the day was celebrated statewide for the first time – due in large part to the efforts of his mother. District 4A Rep. Heather Keeler.
As a student in Moorhead High School, DJ feels that most of what he learns in school is focused on past events. Wanting to highlight current indigenous history in the making – like the recognition of Indigenous People’s Day itself – he plans to produce an educational video for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. He plans to include other indigenous youth in creating the learning resource. The Awesome Foundation’s gift of $1000 will finance video editing classes.
DJ is joining his mother and his grandmother, Donna Keeler, in their family-owned business, Two Feather Consulting. DJ and his motherare enrolled members of the Yankton Sioux Tribe; his grandmother is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe.