By Micah Friez
Published 10:00 am on January 30, 2026
Higher education exists for people just like Josie Aitken.
Though that truth hasn’t always felt like the status quo, Bemidji State University has embraced the need of shaping itself to serve Indigenous students like Aitken.
“This is what my ancestors fought for,” Aitken said. “There are not very many Indigenous people in higher education, but that number is growing.”
In 2025, BSU graduated an institution-record 84 American Indian students. Soon, Aitken plans to walk across that Commencement stage and become an alumna herself. The senior from Cass Lake is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe who also runs on the women’s track and field team. She shares a warm personality with everyone she encounters — even down to the eight-legged creatures she gently picks up along the Lake Bemidji shoreline. (The wildlife biology major is unapologetically a self-proclaimed spider lover.)
But perhaps the most important element to her college experience is the presence of the American Indian Resource Center. More than just a building — and a beautiful one at that — it rose up in 2003 as a lasting promise that the Anishinaabe have a prominent place in higher education and on the land they’ve long called home.
It’s a declaration that they belong where their people have always been.
“The AIRC is a reminder of my people being in higher education. That’s what drew me to Bemidji State,” Aitken said. “I’ve met a lot of people here who acknowledge that BSU is on Ojibwe land and acknowledge the fact that Indigenous people go through a lot of hardships to get here.”
Every student comes to college with a unique testimony. For Aitken, the story that carries her is that of her family. She grew up surrounded by people who supported her dreams and invested in her future.
Aitken’s mother inspired her to run. Her father was an Indigenous rights advocate. Her eldest sister instilled Indigenous and philosophical knowledge in her, and her other older sister, an assistant professor of Indigenous Sustainability Studies, serves students at the AIRC. What’s more, Aitken now has two nieces who look up to her, and she desires to be a positive role model for them.
Aitken competes to honor all her family has done for her, and she pursues her degree to maximize all she can do for them. Bemidji State, and the donors behind the For the North campaign, have given her that chance.
“It’s important that I have the opportunity to compete at a higher level of athletics and be in higher education as an Indigenous woman,” Aitken said. “And that’s the most important thing: You can be strong and athletic and have all these different things, but to be educated is probably the most important thing you can do for yourself and your people.”
On the track, Aitken runs in the 400-meter dash, the 4x400 relay, and will “sometimes sprinkle in the 200 just for fun.” She’s a Bemidji High School graduate who was raised under the watchful eye of Paul Bunyan and Shaynowishkung — also known as Chief Bemidji. But as she grew up observing events like the Olympics and the World Cup, she noticed there weren’t many women who looked like her or came from a similar background.
But rather than being disheartened by underrepresentation, Aitken viewed it as an opportunity to inspire the next generation — like the nieces following in her footsteps. That calling has led her to athletic and academic scholarships and to the cusp of her degree.
Because Aitken knows the finish line is just the beginning.
“Bemidji State really helped me strengthen my sense of identity,” Aitken said. “If you surround yourself with the right people who make you happy and support you, it really pushes you to where you want to be.”
This story was featured in the 2025-26 winter edition of the BSU Magazine. To view the entire magazine, click here.
